Worlds Apart
by Krazy25
Summary: When I am in this world, I feel more alive than I ever could be in the real world. It's just a game to most people, but for me it is a part of my life. I can do whatever I want here, be who I want to be. My friends, my family, no one can possibly understand what it feels like to be torn between two vastly different worlds. [Original Story][SAO Inspired][M for language/content]
1. Prologue

It's hard to believe that this place isn't real. The wind sweeping through the hills, the sun slowly setting on the horizon, how could something this beautiful not be real? Here I sat, taking this all in, as if it were an actual sunset. As if the wind was actually blowing through my hair. I would like to believe that I am sitting here on the hillside, watching the grass sway with the breeze. In reality, I'm lying in my bed, my door shut, light on, with this silly looking headset on my head. I want this to be real. I never felt more alive than I do when I am in this world. As I lay eyes on this gorgeous sunset in the world of Athalia, I know that, in my heart, this is where I belong...

"Thanks again for the help," I looked slightly behind me to see one of the members of the group I had just assisted in completing a rather difficult quest.

I said nothing, simply nodding. I started to look back upon the horizon when he spoke again, "You know," I didn't turn to him this time, "You are more than welcome to join our guild. We may be small, but with your skill and leadership we could climb the ranks!" He spoke with such enthusiasm, he was like most of the people in this world, he saw it as just a game.

"No thank you," I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, taking in the world that was around me.

He must have finally got the hint, as he and his fellow guild members started walking away, leaving me in peace. I have always enjoyed being on my own, in this world and the other, even the time before Athalia. I guess it is easy to get lost in a game whenever you have nothing to hold on to in the real world. The sad thing is, I do have things I hold on to. My brother, my mother, my father, that godforsaken, fat dog of ours. When I am here, in Athalia, I feel as if I have meaning. In the real world they always say, "be what you want to be, the world is yours for the taking." Is it? I am in college currently, which I am attending so that I can find a job, in which I can make money and eventually support a family. Sounds like more of a script than a life.

In Athalia, you can be whatever you want to be. If you want to own your own business without the overwhelming pressure that today's society bears down on you with, you can. If you want to start a guild and build up your strength until you are the most feared or respected in the world, you can. If you simply just want to travel the world, taking in everything that it has to offer, you can. I wish that this could be reality, but sadly it can't. I only get a limited time in this world, like the other, and the more time I spend here the less time I get in the other.

I stood up, taking in this world around me, as it would be the last I would see of it for a quite some time. With a last breath, and a swipe from my hand, I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I was staring at my ceiling, the fan slowly turning round and round. I took off the head gear, lying it neatly and gently next to my bed as I got up. I checked my appearance in the mirror, having to fix my short brown hair was a side effect of being logged in for too long. My hair always went nuts whenever I took the helmet off. I made my way to the bathroom where I splashed some water on my face and stared at myself in the mirror. I peered into my own hazel eyes, hoping to find a sense of joy instead of dread. I had on a plane shirt, which I normally did, this one was a nice gray. I tried to unwrinkle my khaki shorts for a few seconds, to no prevail.

As I passed by my living room on my way to the kitchen, my dad looked up at me from the couch, "He's alive!"

I gave him a slight smirk as I continued to the kitchen; after making myself a quick bowl of ramen, I joined my parents in the living room. They were watching some random TV show. They watched so many different ones it was hard to keep track. "Still enjoying that game of yours?" My mom asked, looking up from her eReader.

"I am," I said quietly between bites.

"School still going okay? Haven't heard you rant about your coding problems in quite a while," my dad studied my reaction, I guess he could sense my discomfort.

"It's going fine," I paused as I looked up at him, "teaching me stuff that I already know."

"Well I just worry about you son, you seem to be becoming more of a hermit lately," my father was someone who constantly was looking out for me.

I wanted to tell him about my internal struggle, but he wouldn't understand. I couldn't even imagine what he would say, though it would probably be somewhere along the lines of, "don't waste your life on a silly video game." Then he would most likely go on some rant about how back in his day they played a game with two bars and a ball, what was the name of that blasted game? It was at this time that I realized he was still looking at me and I had yet to respond, "I'm fine, dad," I managed to spit out.

After my very nutritious meal, I returned to my room where I sat at my desktop. Two screens full of lines of code; I knew I had already surpassed everything the instructor was expecting out of this assignment, but I was still going to improve it. I was a perfectionist, regardless of the assignment and its requirements, I would always go a little bit further. It helped teach myself, which is way more than any instructor at my school has ever taught me. Everyone in class always despised the way I took everything to the next level. I knew it was because not one of them could keep up with my skill level. They don't understand why I do it, I don't even understand why I do it. I used to enjoy it. I enjoyed learning new coding languages, testing application after application, but now it is all just something I do. No matter what I do in this world, no matter how hard I try, my mind and heart are always in that of Athalia.

Time wasted no time flying by as I furiously typed and tested lines upon lines of code; it was supposed to be a simple web application. In fact, the instructor kept it so simple I could have done it in five minutes. I guess that's what happens when the entire class is full of incompetent idiots. I flipped my headphones off my head, down around my neck. I always wore headphones while I coded, it helped me focus. Looking over at the clock I noticed it was already passed midnight, I had a long day of school and work tomorrow, or today rather, and I needed to get some sleep. After shutting my computer down for the night, I crawled into bed. I laid there for what seemed like forever, just staring at the ceiling. My mind was racing through the world of Athalia, thinking of all of the stuff I wanted to do the next time I was able to log in.

Morning came way too early, as it did most days. I started my morning routine: smack alarm, shower, get dressed, brush teeth, comb hair, grab quick snack, head out. I always waited until the last minute to leave my house, so I always had to grab something out of the cabinet really quick. It didn't bother me, I wasn't much of a breakfast person anyway. After a quick drive to school, I made my way to my first class of the day. You know that guy at your school that walks through the hallway and doesn't say a single word to anyone? Yeah, that's me. Most of the time I had my headphones on, just a little reassurance in case someone might get the idea to talk to me.

My first few classes went by fairly quickly, I didn't mind listening to my instructors lecture about things like the media and such, it was actually quite interesting. Now was the class I look forward to every day, my web application class. As soon as I sat down, I opened up my application, skimming over the lines to make sure that everything was correct. I didn't even notice the rest of the class coming in. Before I knew it the instructor was addressing the class, "alright folks, you know what's due today!" I could never really figure out if that was excitement in his voice or if he just liked to talk loud. He was an older man, silver filled his hair and beard. He always wore a nice button down shirt and dress pants. "Would anyone like to be the first to present?" His question was met by moans and groans, plus the one guy that flat out responded with "Nope!"

Per the usual, the instructor had to call students up to present. There was no way in hell I was going to volunteer, public speaking was by far my worst enemy. I always get nervous and tend to forget what I'm talking about whenever I have to present or talk in front of the class. Even with something as comfortable as coding, I couldn't stand to be the center of attention. After about the fifth or sixth presentation, the look of agony on my instructor's face was enough to almost make me chuckle. That brief humor turned straight to fear as he belted out, "Mr. Falcon! For the love of God please show your classmates how it's done!" My teacher was always proud of my work, he felt that it was a reflection upon him as a teacher, but it really wasn't. He loved it, which of course meant that I was far from a favorite of my classmates.

I managed to take a breath before a walked to the front of the classroom, I tried not to focus on the hundreds of whispers scampering across the room as I loaded my application. "So...we were assigned with making a basic form, I took the liberty of taking it a step further-"

"Of course you did," One of my classmates in the back row shouted out, causing a brief chuckle among the rest of the class.

I don't really know what happened, but my mind just went totally blank after that comment. It was like my brain giving a "fuck you, too" to my classmate by not sharing its knowledge. I desperately tried to find words as I avoided all eye contact with everyone, which meant looking down at the podium. "Um..." C'mon find some words, anything, you know this, "So...I...the form..."

"Take a breath, Mr. Falcon," my instructor tried to help.

"The form connects to a database in order to efficiently store the enrollment information. You can then log in as an advisor, review this information, and either approve or deny it from that point. All the while, the student is kept in the loop via email, letting him or her know what is going on. The form itself..." I rattled off anything and everything that came into my head. I went on and on about the structure and validation, shit that bored my classmates to death. By the time I was done, a good twenty minutes had gone by. I stood there in front of a dead silent classroom, it felt like it had been forever since anyone said anything. I was just standing there, waiting for some sign from the instructor. Instead, I was once again greeted by the asshole in the back row.

"Well we all failed," another snaughty ass comment.

"Maybe if you put in the time..." My instructor turned to the student, who then cut him off.

"Time? We haven't even learned that shit yet. He just does it to make himself feel superior to everyone."

"That's enough out of you, Jon," my instructor barked back, an argument ensued as I took this time to slowly make my way back to my seat, making sure to avoid eye contact with everyone.

After the argument was finally over, my instructor made his way to the front of the classroom, "Alright everyone, that's it for today. Those of who you didn't present today, be prepared to go next time, have a good day."

I slowly put my stuff away, as I usually did since everyone was in a rush to get out of the classroom, why fight them, right? I was about to flip my headphones up when someone touched me on the shoulder, looking up, I recognized the person. It was Tyler, I had him in quite a few of my classes, he wasn't the best student, but he was a nice guy. "I just wanted to let you know you did a fantastic job on that project, man." I continued a blank stare at him, he was totally a ginger. He had a messy red head of hair and a barely visible beard on his chin to go with it. He was the only person in the class I think might be paler than me, which is hard to do. "Thanks," I mumbled as I flipped on my headphones and walked out of the class.

I didn't even make it halfway down the hallway before I felt another tap on my shoulder, figuring it was Tyler again, I flipped on side of my headphones off and spun around, "What?" I quickly had to rethink my entire attitude as this was not Tyler at all, unless he was a hot chick. I flipped my headphones off completely, "Sorry, didn't mean for that to come out rude."

The girl was a good foot and a half shorter than me, now that I think about it, how the hell did she tap that high on my shoulder? I had seen her around school plenty of times, but we never spoke, or even made eye contact for that matter. She had straight, long blonde hair that reached her lower back. She had a nice petite figure, obviously an athletes body, and not a bad rack and caboose for an athletic type. She was wearing our school's travel uniform, pretty much basic sweatpants, a fancy, dry quick shirt thing, and a windbreaker. She was staring at me with some gorgeous blue eyes, just enough makeup around them to make them pop amazingly. "That's okay," she kind of nudged her head like she was literally shaking it off or something, "So you are good at this programming stuff, right?"

"I guess so..." I said slowly as I anticipated this was going to be a "Will you do my homework?" kind of conversation.

"Everyone says you're the best, so, is that true?"

"I'm sure that's what everyone says," I replied sarcastically.

"They said different, but that's what I heard," her constant eye contact was making me a little nervous. I never really kept eye contact with people this long, especially a pretty girl. I guess she read my gesture well as she continued, "So...I was wondering if you could tutor me?"

"Tutor as in teach you or do your homework for you?" I had been asked this quite a bit in my lifetime, it was always option number two.

"Teach me, obviously," she looked incredibly offended, "I need to actually learn this shit, not just copy someone else's work."

Beauty plus foul mouth is really quite the combination, "I don't know, I have work, plus homework of my own.."

"Please? I really need your help," dammit and she is good at the puppy dog eye thing, too.

I gave out a sigh, checked the time on my phone real quick, "When?"

She quite literally almost jumped for joy, which I didn't entirely expect, "Well! I'll have a game today, but we'll be back tonight. Would 10 o' clock tonight work? Or is that too late for you? Or maybe in the morning?"

I feel like if I didn't stop her now she would never, "Tonight is fine, I get off work at 10, so I'll just make my way over here after," I started slowly walking backwards, "see you in that lab," I pointed to the lab I was walking by as I turned around.

"Wait!" I looked back over my shoulder to see her half speed walking, half jogging to me. She grabbed my hand and began writing on my palm; this was a first for me, so I just decided to let her do what she wants and try to not say anything stupid. "There is my number, and my name, in case you didn't know. It's Jennifer," she gave me a smile, "and you're Nicholas, right? Or do you go by Nick?"

"Um, right," I had to snap out of my daze, "I generally go by whatever. Whatever is easiest."

She nodded multiple times, "Okay, I'll see you tonight then."

We went our separate ways after that, it wasn't until I got into my car did I look down at my palm. "Jennifer 618-974-6598," well I guess that's one way to get a girl's number. I still didn't really believe it happened as I drove off to work. "This should be interesting..." I mumbled to myself.

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A/N: Hey there, I'm back and back at it again. I really love this story and will be continuing it for a while. This is almost the same as the other story with this name except it will be taken in a new direction. This is a completely independent story, but it is truly inspired by SAO. I appreciate any comments and reviews.

Disclaimer: Any reference to any copyrighted material I do not own. Everything else I own though =D


	2. Nicholas, The Tutor

"Dude, she totally wants your dick," this is what I had to listen to for my entire shift at work, from my boss, mind you. I was trying to keep myself busy stocking the shelves, but I made the mistake of telling her what happened earlier so she had to keep stopping by. "She does not," I said as I neatly stacked the boxes of condoms into the locked container. Look at that, Magnums are on sale.

"She totally does, you need to be prepared!" My manager pointed at the condom case. She was a nice lady, middle aged, pretty amazing figure for a mother of three. She had dark brunette hair, obviously dyed, come to think of it I have no idea what her natural color was. She was practically my best friend, which is kind of sad to say. As you can tell from the way she talks, she is quite entertaining. "I'm not going to buy any condoms," I looked at her with playful disgust as I locked the case.

"Heads up!" I hollered as I threw the key over the pharmacy wall, which was followed by a "Thanks, Nick."

"Women love confidence! Just walk in there, slap the condoms on the desk and be like, 'Hey sweet cheeks, you like Harry Potter? Cause I'm about to slytherin," she said with a wink and an elbow.

I couldn't even respond to her because I was dying with laughter, I soon heard a, "She's right you know," from back in the pharmacy. I started walking towards the back, "There is no way in hell I would ever say that to anyone!"

"Oh whatever! You are no fun!" She said as she tailed off, heading toward her office.

I hate to admit it, but whenever she stopped by it really did make my day better. She always knew how to make my day better, or at least make me laugh. My parents call her my work wife, my father, specifically, tells me almost every day that she wants me. I always call him crazy but every now and again the texts between her and I get a little crazy. Her husband loves me, he thinks I'm the greatest thing ever, probably because he knows I'm not a threat to bang his wife. Or am I? I make myself laugh whenever I even start to think about something like that.

The rest of my shift actually went by pretty quickly. Thankfully, there weren't too many angry customers yelling at me about random shit today. There was one guy, I think it was a guy, in some fur coat with wild piercings yelling at me because I didn't have what he needed for his potion he was making. Just kidding, he totally yelled at me over something, I just assumed it was for a potion, or maybe a curse on someone, probably me now. It wasn't until the walk to my car after I clocked out that it hit me. I hadn't worried about it all day until now, I started getting nervous butterflies in my stomach, damn things.

It was all I thought about the short drive over to school. What am I going to say? What does she want to know? Does she really want help, or is she just playing me? What if I say something stupid? What if I totally look at her tits...and she catches me? What if she asks a question I don't know? I completely laughed out loud in my car as that last question popped into my head. Soon enough my car was parked, backpack on my back, headphones up, and I was off to the computer lab. It really was quite the beautiful night, I looked up into the night sky to see a few stars, or more likely satellites, twinkling in the distance. The campus was always peaceful this late at night, but it had just enough dark spaces to be a little creepy. I fully expect zombies to come pouring out of one of the alleyways at some point of my college career.

Making my way into the half lighted halls, the creepiness factor of the school began to sink in. I think I actually turned around once or twice just to make sure there wasn't a killer behind me. In case you are wondering, there wasn't. As I entered the hallway with the computer lab I heard someone yelling, I flipped off my headphones to get a better sense of what I was walking in to. "You stupid fucking thing!" Well then, I thought to myself, that sounds like me when a program won't work the way I want it to. "There is nothing wrong with the stupid code! ugh!" I figured I better walk in the room before she starts destroying stuff.

I walked slowly and quietly into the room full of computers. It was a nice sized room, projector and teacher's computer in the front, rows of computers all the way through. Of course they were half ass PCs, the school was too cheap to buy anything high end. A quick scan of the room found the blonde's frizzed out hair as she had her head down on the desk. I took this moment to assess what I was up against, though this decision proved to be the wrong one as she looked up, "Are you gonna help me or not?!" Her face was very flushed, I wonder how long she has been working on this assignment.

"Uh...Yeah," I said as I finally found words and made my way over to the computer next to her.

"This stupid thing is so freaking stupid! Look!" She grabbed the screen. I was actually kind of scared that she was going to throw it at me.

I scanned over the code fairly quickly, finding the error almost immediately. She stared at me the entire time I was looking at her screen, the error was so simple I was a little nervous about telling her. I sat back in my chair for a moment, taking my time. "I knew it! You don't know. You can't help. See! It's broken!" She started flicking the screen, "Work you piece of shit!"

"You forgot a semicolon on line 2," good, I broke the news quick.

After a few moments I looked over at her, obviously I wasn't going to make eye contact when I told her about the error. She was dead still, finger still in mid flick at the screen. The only thing I noticed was her face slowly getting more red with every second that went by. Maybe I should excuse myself to the bathroom before she slits my throat. "You're telling me..." This wasn't going to be good, "I've spent the last three hours trying to fix this stupid thing," yup, really bad, "and there was an error on the 2nd...fucking...line...this entire time!" She turned to me as she spat out the last part. I swear there was fire burning in her eyes as she stared at me.

I took a deep swallow, "Yes."

"WHAT THE FUCK!" She slammed her hands down on the desk, smashed the semicolon key so hard I think it might have broke, and refreshed the program. Worked like a charm, "Are you fucking kidding me! Who the hell designs this stupid..." You get the idea, it was at this moment I tuned her out as I pushed the monitor and stuff aside for my laptop. I always used my laptop, it's easier than having to login on these stupid computers. Oh, I guess I should start listening again, "...You agree right? It's stupid as fuck."

I looked at her and just nodded, then pulled up some files on my computer. Unexpectedly, she closed in on me as soon as I opened them. She nearly knocked me out of my chair as she crammed her face near my screen, "Good god that looks complicated!"

"Not really," I said as my view of my laptop was obstructed by a head full of hair.

"What does this part do?" She plopped her finger on my screen, oh god, that fingerprint…

"All I see is a the back of a head."

"Oh sorry," she backed up a little but still was uncomfortably close to me, "that part," she pointed again.

"That is the AJAX request, it's what allows the application to update in real time without a page refresh."

"We haven't learned that yet, though."

"I...taught myself..." For some reason I felt kind of ashamed to admit it.

"Ha, nerd," she smirked at me, "So!" she said clapping her hands together, "what I need help with is getting this form to save whatever I put in it."

"So...save the data to a database?"

"Yeah! What you said!"

"Okay, what do you have so far?" I asked.

"Nothing!" I swear my jaw hit the floor, I should of expected it though.

"Nothing?...You..have.." I sighed.

"That's why I have you!" She smacked my shoulder with a smile. Touch barrier officially broken! "I'm not good at this whole coding thing, I mean this took me hours to do. It probably would take you like-"

"Two minutes," I finished her sentence without hesitation, yeah that probably wasn't the best idea.

"Well fuck you too, then," she crossed her arms and gave out a loud "hmph."

"Sorry...that was rude," I looked halfway at her, she was still playing mad. "So the first thing we have to do is establish a connection to the database."

She instantly turned from mad to extremely happy as she grabbed the keyboard ready to go, after a moment she turned toward me, "Okay! How do I do that?"

I sighed, "Have you had much experience with PHP?"

"None."

"None?..."

"None."

"Alright," I grabbed a book out of my backpack and slid it toward her, "read that."

" _PHP for dummies…._ " She glared up at me, "Are you fucking serious?"

I actually laughed, I can't remember the last time I had an actual laugh. It felt good. She, however, was not very entertained as she kept her death stare upon me. "It's actually a good book, has some good pointers, I mean it's not as good as an Ullman book, but still."

"That's your great advice? Read a book?" death glare still in effect.

"How do you think I learned everything?" I stared right back at her, like I had balls. So proud of myself.

She would win the glare however as I quickly lost my nerve and looked back down at my laptop, acting like I was looking over my code. "The first thing you need to understand is that PHP is a back end web language..." I trailed off into a lecture as I saw her death glare turn into a smirk.

Hours flew by as I talked her through the basic of back end programming. I never really thought I would be good at teaching, but apparently I was doing a pretty damn good job. She was learning fast, well, if I had to choose a speed I'd say medium. She listened to every word I said, eager to know how each function works, I guess that's what made me enjoy doing this. Or it was the actual human interaction, one or the other. I didn't even notice the time, she was actually the first one to point it out, "Holy crap, it's 3 am."

"Wow, really?" I sat back in my chair and gave out a yawn, now that I think about it I am really tired.

"How about we do this again, I really learned a lot tonight," she looked at me. For some reason this time instead of responding, I just got lost in those gorgeous blue eyes of hers. Like wow, they are more blue than the ocean. Wow that was cliché. It didn't take long for her to get annoyed, "You just gonna stare at me now?"

I snapped back to reality, scratching the back of my head and looking down, "Uh...sorry!"

It was at that moment that I noticed it, I don't know how I missed it this entire time. "What's that on your wrist?"

"Huh?" Apparently she didn't know either as she pulled her right wrist up and looked at it, "Oh! It's silly," she looked a little embarrassed for some reason.

I know that symbol, I would recognize it anywhere. The diamond with the "A" in the middle in a fancy script. It was a simple symbol, but got it's point across. That was the logo for Athalia Online. "It's the Athalia Online logo."

She looked at me kind of puzzled, then smirked, "Yeah, my friends and I were joking around one day about it and a few days ago we finally went through with getting tattoos," she ran her fingers over the still newly etched ink on the underside of her wrist, "this was the only thing I could think of that I love enough to put on my skin," she looked back up at me, "I know it's stupid, just a stupid game..." then it was like a light clicking on, "wait a second, so you play too?!"

"Uh..." I looked away trying to think of a good response, "Kinda..."

"Kinda?" There was the death glare again, man she likes glaring at me, "You either do or you don't, idiot!"

"Yes, I do," I said slightly biting my lower lip, another nervous habit of mine.

"Awesome! What level are you? What does your character specialize in? I'm an archer! Do you..." and so the sea of questions and excitement erupted from her. I've never really seen someone get so excited over something. I mean, I love the game, I live for the game, but I never just blurt out random stats to random people. I guess that's because I'm more of the loner type, I mean, I am a solo player. I only team up with people for short periods and when I feel it's beneficial to me. Like the last group I helped with that quest, I got a sick ass item from it, plus finally leveled up. Oh yeah, that's right, I'm supposed to be having a conversation.

My realization was a little too late as I got a slight smack on the head, "Are you even listening to me?"

"Huh?" I looked at her, "Yeah, archer, I heard you."

"Wow, that was literally the only thing you got out of that?"

"Pretty much," I decided it was best to be honest.

"You are an interesting one," She started packing up her stuff, "So, text me sometime so we can meet up again, okay?" She stared at my blank face for a couple seconds, "You better not forget or I'll smack the shit out of you."

"Okay," I said as I shut down my laptop. I should probably see if she wants a ride back to her dorm...that would be the gentlemen thing to do, "So...Um…" I mumbled under my breath as she started walking toward the door.

She turned around, "See ya later!" and with that she was out the door. I just stood there, like an idiot, thinking about the opportunity to be nice that I just missed. "This is why I don't talk to people..." I whispered to myself as I made my way out.

The drive home took longer than usual, probably because I was so looking forward to passing out. I had another long day tomorrow, school and work per the usual. I always loved when people went on vacation and I was volunteered to work more. That was sarcasm. At some point I made it home, I was so lost in thought between everything I had to do that I didn't really notice. Driving home, walking in the house, saying hi to people and the dog, it was all stuff that I pretty much zoned through on a daily basis. I was out like a light whenever my head hit the pillow, which is a good thing, the less I over think about this strange day, the better.

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A/N: There we have it. Off and running. I hope you are enjoying the story thus far. Let me know what you guys think!


	3. My Friends

Days flew by fast as I spent all of my time between school and work. They had me working split shifts now, since they are too lazy and cheap to hire on a new person. I wake up, put in a few hours of work before school, go to school, then come back for some more afterwards. I didn't really mind it, it kept me busy, and who wouldn't like some extra cash, right? Per the usual, my parents were constantly worrying about me, they think I'm working too much. Maybe I am, but it's okay. I honestly wouldn't be doing anything else besides play Athalia Online, which then they would be worried about me because I wouldn't leave me room. Those two, constantly worrying.

I had been at work for about an hour as the morning part of my split shift today whenever my phone buzzed. I was in the back so I grabbed it out of my pocket, our managers were cool with having phones or iPods as long as we got our work done. A text notification greeted me as I looked at the screen. _Jennifer – Text Message._ There was only one Jennifer that I know and I'm fairly sure she gave me her number and not the other way around. I unlocked the phone to read the message, ' _I thought I told you to text me! Rude!'_

I automatically read the text in her voice inside my head, which I guess is a little weird, but oh well. "How did she get my number?" I whispered to myself as I sent back a reply, ' _Sorry been busy. How did you get my number?'_

I just about had my phone in my pocket when it buzzed again, "Really?" I said out loud in the giant storage room.

' _Remember when you went to the bathroom? You left your phone. I figured why not!'_ Now I understand why I need to have a pass code on my phone. Better yet, now I know never to leave my phone somewhere.

 _'Now that's rude. What do you need?'_ I didn't even try to put my phone away this time as I could see she was already typing.

 _'Another tutoring session tonight?'_

I sat there and thought for a second, I really wanted to say no just because that is interfering with my valuable sleep time, but at the same time, I know I was going to say yes because, well, she's hot. Maybe, deep down inside, I knew I was going to say yes because I'm tired of the same old shit. I want to be able to connect with people, you know, socialize like a normal human being. ' _Sure, get off at 10.'_

Well that was that, part of me hoped I wouldn't be tutoring until 3 am again, but at the same time, the other part hoped it was that long or longer. I decided it was time to get back to work, though the kind of mindless work I have to do it is easy for me to get lost in thought. More often than not it meant getting lost in my thoughts about plans that I have whenever I log into Athalia Online next. I let out a sigh as I stocked up some cereal, I was dying to be back in that world.

Before I knew it, I was sitting down in class waiting for it to start. I went through my routine of opening up my laptop and any assignments; there was an in class assignment posted last night that I got done in about 2 minutes. I looked over some of the code just to make sure everything worked like it should, which it did, of course. I didn't even notice someone standing right next to me, I guess I should have sensed the glare. "Not even going to say hi, huh?" I looked up to see Jennifer giving me the all too often glare.

"Sorry, got lost in..." I was cut off by her head peering into my laptop.

"Isn't this the assignment we are doing _in_ class?"

"Yeah..." I said shamefully.

"Well aren't you just a little overachiever!" There was an odd sense of joy and humor in her voice, usually my classmates dread whenever I do more work.

"So I've been wanting to ask you something," she waited for me to make eye contact as I was zoning out into my screen, "you never answered any of my questions about AO."

"There's nothing to really tell," my nervous head scratch made its famous appearance.

I guess our talk caught the ear of a passing classmate, in particular Tyler, who stopped as he was walking by and turned toward us, "Did you just say AO?"

"Yeah," Jennifer turned toward the grinning ginger.

"I just got that game last night!" He said almost jumping with excitement, "I haven't even opened it yet!"

"Well that's exciting," Jennifer said, sounding almost half hearted, "I was actually just inquiring Nicholas here about his character," she turned toward me with a fake angry face and a raised voice, "which he is refusing to share!"

"It's not polite to poke people about their characters you know," Tyler defended me, as I sat there with a blank face.

"Spoken like a true noob," she teased.

"Hey! I've had plenty of hours in other MMOs!"

Their argument was actually quite entertaining, they were both going at it like an old married couple. I can't remember the last time I had a conversation with classmates before...god I'm depressing. When did I start acting like this? I used to be a happy, outgoing kid! Man I wonder where….smack! I got a slap right upside the head by you know who, and now the lecture, "ANYWAY! I fully expect an answer to my questions tonight!"

"You really had to smack me before you said that?"

"You wouldn't of listened otherwise," she said as she walked away toward her seat, she was right.

Tyler turned to me, "You guys got plans tonight?" he gave me an awkward, smiling face as he nudged me with his elbow.

"I'm tutoring her."

"Hmmm, I could use some tutoring myself...three a crowd?" He slowly looked over his shoulder at me as he had started walking away. I don't know what it is about this guy, but it was almost like a saw a little bit of myself in him. I never really saw him talk to anyone, besides give a compliment to someone every now and again. I always felt bad, he was the kind of kid that would always attempt to start a conversation, but it would either go unnoticed or die out quickly.

"You're welcome to join, 10 o' clock. Lab 4."

I could almost see his eyes light up as I answered, "Thanks man! Maybe you can give me some pointers on..."

"Mr. Pearson," the teacher interrupted, "If you don't mind, I think we will start class now."

The class chuckled as Tyler just now noticed everyone had found their seats and he was the only one standing. Man, his face was almost as red as his hair, "So-Sorry!" He squealed out as he quickly found his seat.

Look at that, I socialized like a normal human being and I actually enjoyed it. To think, I've spent the last few years going through not even trying to talk or befriend anyone. All I cared about was improving my skills so I can get a good job out of college. I stared blankly at the professor as he lectured on and on, hopefully it wasn't too obvious that I was tuning him out.

I started wondering how I was going to explain my AO character to those two, I took a glimpse back to see Jennifer peering into her computer and Tyler clicking away on his phone. Man, the way he was furiously typing at that thing, must be writing a book. How can I even begin to describe my character? Now that I think about it, I hate that word. Character. It's not a character, it's me. It's not just some role I play. Damn I get sidetracked easily. Let's see, first and foremost I'm a solo player, need to make sure they understand that. My character is built around speed, so I use lightweight armor. Actually, the armor I have now is meant for ranged characters, but it does the job. My primary weapon is a pair of long, curved knives that are known as speed blades in the game. So pretty much, my idea of describing my character is naming all the things I have...I let out a sigh. I guess that'll have to do.

As soon as class was over Jennifer and Tyler were on me like white on rice, we talked about the specifics of tonight while we walked out of the class. We planned out that I would bring some soda and Tyler was going to order pizza. Jennifer was going to...well...show up and look pretty. As I got into my car to head back for the second part of my shift at work, I realized something. "Damn," I said out loud as my car's engine roared to life. Mark was the manager on duty this afternoon, so it was going to be a long shift. He was a good manager, but he wasn't much for small talk. I'm on his good side because I do my job, but ever heard of the saying that managers work workers? Yeah that's true, I usually end up doing my job plus a few others when he is on duty. He gives me more responsibility because he knows I'll get it done, unlike with other people. Unfortunately, a side effect of lots of work when you have plans afterwards is the shift goes extremely slow. Oh well, off to work I go!

After my shift I was in such a rush to get going that I almost forgot to get the soda. After some casual small talk with the cashiers, I zoomed my way over to the school. I can't remember the last time I was this excited about hanging out with people. When I walked into the room, I found Tyler and Jennifer already there and arguing about something. "Good! Nicholas is here!" She pointed for me to sit down next to her, kind of scarily, after I sat down she continued, "Now explain to this _noob_ that guilds are extremely important in AO."

"Why are you two arguing about this exactly?" I decided to avoid the question.

"Because," Tyler elaborated, "I feel like joining a guild is so restricting in a game like AO. You can literally do anything! Why restrict yourself into the ranks of a fascist-like system? I like to do what I want, when I want, and how I want!"

" _Fascist-like?_ " Jennifer gave him one hell of a stink eye, "You have a leader system in order to establish a working order. It's the most efficient way to get work done. Organization is everything!"

"I'm not going to work my tail off so some fat ass can reek the benefits!"

"You really are stupid," she turned toward me, "now do you understand?"

I nodded, and decided to join in on the conversation, "I tend to lean away from guilds, myself."

"Why's that?" Jennifer shot an evil glare as Tyler's smile grew.

"My own reasons," I looked away from both of them. As usual, I was totally choking. Whenever I tried to start conversations or participate in the past, I always lose track of what I'm saying and my mind goes blank, much like when I get nervous for a speech. I couldn't possibly think of a way to explain how I feel about in game stuff to them.

"Really? You are going to join into the argument and _that_ is your reasoning? Better elaborate further, Mr. Falcon," Jennifer gave her best impression of our teacher.

After watching Tyler bust up laughing, and fighting back a smirk of my own, I took a breath and just went for it, "In the game, if I were to join a guild, it would have to act more like a family. I believe that the point of teaming up with people is to help each other, so why wouldn't you split everything evenly? Even then, I would prefer a small guild. I don't like being associated with people, so if I am going to be, I better know who they are and what they are about," I stopped and gave out a half fake chuckle, "course I don't get along with people well enough to ever join a guild, anyway."

Tyler gave a little side smirk, "I don't know man, you are doing a pretty good job of getting along with us right now!"

Jennifer looked at me, "You're both stupid."

"Pizza!" Tyler hollered as he got a text, he then went bolting out of the room.

"Nick," I turned toward her, "thank you."

I was a little taken back by the sudden mood swing, and I half expected her to slap me and say something like "just kidding!" She barely made eye contact, "Don't make it all weird, alright? I just want to thank you for helping me out."

I continued to look at her, imagine that, _she_ is shying away from _my_ stare. Seems a little backwards to me. It was at this moment that I noticed she was blushing slightly; holy crap, I thought to myself, I made a girl blush. "It's no problem, really," I gave out a cheesy smile, "in fact, I should be thanking you."

It was her turn to be taken back now, "Why? You are dong extra work just for me! It's not like I'm teaching you anything..."

"You're actually teaching me a lot..." I looked down as I spoke.

"What do you mean?" I could tell she had a puzzled look on her face, even without looking up.

I put up a fake smile as I looked up at her, "Maybe I'll tell you one day, but for now, let's get some work done!"

She stared at me for a few seconds before agreeing. It was at this time that Tyler reappeared with a couple pizzas. There was then an ensuing argument about the best crust size, I swear, these two just like to argue for the hell of it. The next few hours were mostly me talking, or rather lecturing, about various functions and such. Jennifer kept right on track with what I was talking about, Tyler, on the other hand, needed a little extra help. It's okay though, I didn't mind. I don't think he really minded the occasional teasing he got from Jennifer whenever she got something that he didn't. It was all in good fun.

"Hey guys," Tyler looked up from his computer, this broke a good twenty minute drought in conversation as we were all working, "What if we met up in AO sometime?"

"I don't see why not!" Jennifer was quick to respond very excitedly.

"I'll have to see…."

"No," Jennifer interrupted me, "You will agree to his proposal," I stared at her, "now!"

I gave out a sigh, "Fine."

"Sweet!" Tyler jumped out of his chair, "I'll totally get my character set up whenever I get home tonight. What are your guy's usernames? I'll add you first thing!"

"Jiller_95," Jennifer said with a slight flush to her face, "It's silly I know."

Both of their eyes were on me, "ShadowFalcon."

Tyler recorded both of the names in his phone, "Wow! No numbers or anything, nice going, Nick! So when can we all log on?"

We all agreed to log on this coming weekend, Jennifer and I would meet Tyler in the Town of Beginnings. After that, we would show him around and teach him some tricks to the game. I was actually quite intrigued to see how Jennifer looked in AO. My appearance didn't change that much in game, besides some epic spikey hair and a more toned body. Of course, there is the matter of the graphics in game. They are spectacular, but they aren't real world recreating spectacular, though pretty damn close.

It was that time to head home again, I don't remember exactly, but I don't think I stopped smiling the entire way home. I walked in the front door to find my parents in the living room, "Hey."

"How's it going, son? Late night again?"

"Yeah I was tutoring a couple of...friends," I don't know why I hesitated to spit that word out.

"Oh man, the big f word, huh?" My dad was quick to tease.

"Stop it!" My mom came to my defense, "It's about time he made some friends!"

"About time? That's a confidence booster!" I joked as I kicked off my shoes, "I'm hitting the sack!"

I plopped in my bed, it was so warm and comfy. I wonder what it is going to be like meeting up with them in AO. I let out a deep breath, I'm going to have to log in early. I have quite the journey to get back to the Town of Beginnings. Now that I think about it, where is the nearest town with a warp? Unlike most MMOs, AO makes it quite difficult to get around to certain places. Only major towns have warp portals, so the more remote areas, which I'm in right now, take real travel time to get to them. I was just about to pass out whenever one last thought shot through my mind. I can't wait to meet my friends in _my_ world.

* * *

A/N: Hey look at that! A new character. I hope you guys are hanging in there for the development of the story! Next chapter we'll finally get to spend some real time in Athalia Online! What are your thoughts on Nicholas? How do you think he will develop with his new found friends? If you are noticing hints of SAO character traits in my characters, then you are certainly right. SAO inspired me, so why not incorporate a little bit?!

Disclaimer: Town of Beginnings is owned by the creators of Sword Art Online. I do not own it, but it's an awesome name, so I used it.


	4. This Is My Drug

This is my drug. I sprinted through the forest, moving faster than I ever could in the real world. My long, dark cloak was taking a beating from the surrounding wind passing by. It flicked furiously through the air, more often then not revealing the crossed sheathes on the back of my waist. I was often told I was a peculiar one, not only for using knives as a primary weapon, but for also holding them the way I do. I held the knives backwards, well kind of. The blade, instead of sticking straight out, are curved along my forearm, blade out of course. It's a bit of an unconditional method, but it works for me. I am able to get many slice attacks in in a short amount of time. One drawback, of course, is like of a stab, or punch, attack, but that's not really my style. I do, however, flip the blades around if I have to catch a blade, which happens from time to time.

I actually stumbled upon these weapons by accident. It was my first day in AO when I visited the Town of Beginning's weapon shop. I went in there eager eyed to find my starting weapon. Little did I know, I was going to make a trip in and out of that shop about twenty times. Every type of weapon I tried, it just didn't feel right. One-handed, two-handed, heavy, light, rapier, mace, lance, hell, I even tried out a bow and arrow. Nothing felt like it belonged in my hands. The weapons always felt like cold hunks of metal that I swung around. I know, you're saying, "Idiot, that's what a weapon is!" I can't even explain how I felt when I grabbed my first pair of speed blades. The NPC shop owner explained to me how it was a dead item at his shop, "A dying breed," are the words he used.

My first fight, no, even before that, the blades felt like an extension of my hand. They weren't just objects, they were my key to getting stronger in this world. From the first time I grabbed them, I always held them in my unconventional fashion, I actually had to adopt the skill of flipping them in order to block a heavy blow. Maybe the real reason I liked them so much wasn't that they suited me, but because no one thought they were good. "They lack range, noob. Their slice damage is pitiful and the punch attack is worthless due to the range factor," I remember one player telling me as he walked in the weapon shop and saw my purchase. I always wanted to be different, to stand out, but I was always to afraid. In a way, these knives were a part of me, they understood me. Together, we were going to change everything. Now how about _that_ for a weapon description, why can't I explain it like that to people in the real world?

Now back to me running in the forest, I was still a good twenty minutes away from Myrefall. It was a descent sized town out west from the Town of Beginnings. I never really thought about the map design of AO, but it was very strange that they put the Town of Beginnings in the center. Normally, the largest and most important city was located in the center of the map. That must have been one hell of a design decision, no doubt the result of many debates. The map itself was pretty basic: north were the mountains and colder climates, south was a desert flatland, west was heavy forested area, and east was more oceanic. Personally, I spent the majority of my time in the west, the secluded small towns suited my personality very well.

"Looks like I get some practice," I said to myself as a wolf pack made its presence known on either side of me. These were your standard pack wolves, not too high of a level but could easily subdue unprepared travelers with teamwork and strategy. By my count there were five, the first was about to make the initial attack. One of the wolves leaped through the passing trees at me, going straight for my legs, a classic opening move by these creatures. I planted my landing foot as I flipped around in the direction of the wolf, now in mid jump. It was too late for it to react, my agility skill was much too high for it. My blade ripped through it like paper as I completed the spin, dirt and grass filled the air as I slid to a stop.

"Four to go," I said to myself as the attacking wolf burst into nothing. The rest surrounded me, a classic four corner move. I closed my eyes, I would have to trust my hearing to detect the first movement. Everything slowed down, my heart rate including. I tuned out my breathing, the wind whistling through the trees, the bird's songs, everything must go. Then I heard it, I reacted before my listening notifier was able to point out the direction. I dodged the first attacker to the side, slicing a full blow along the side of the wolf. The next attacks would be quick. I leaped over the next attacked, slicing along its back. As soon as I landed, another side step and slice took care of the second to last wolf. Oddly, the last one stood there in front of me, as if frozen with fear with the death of his comrades.

The snarling beast showed its fangs as it dipped low in an attacking position. I crouched down, legs spread one in front of the other in order to get the best jump possible. I waited for the moment. The wolf gave out a last snarl, a famous last words perhaps, I leaped forward at the same time as it. It was all over in less than a blink of an eye, I landed my leap just before hearing the animal dissipate. It barely moved an inch by the time my blade ripped through it. The experience I got from this short fight was pitiful, and the drop was even more worthless. Nevertheless, it was nice to have an easy fight to get back into the groove of things. I continued on my journey, unfortunately the rest of my path to town was uneventful.

"Phew!" I stopped to catch my breath at the main entrance of Myrefall. Funny, catching my breath in a video game. This game actually replicated the feeling quite well based off your stamina stat. Just inside the main entrance was the market, vendors filled every nook and cranny of the street. The remaining space was filled with people, both players and NPCs. I figured while I was in town I might as well get some supplies, since the vendors in the Town of Beginnings carried mostly beginner items.

That is another unique thing about this game, the economic system is ridiculously realistic. There is an extremely complex algorithm that determines all pricing of standard items sold by NPC vendors. This varies by vendor and by location, so it is actually very useful to find yourself a good shop, even if it is an NPC. As far as player shop owners, they are free to charge whatever they want. Most of the time the NPC vendor pricing is enough to get the players pricing competitively, but if they have a prime location and a hot item, you better believe their price will go through the roof.

After grabbing what I needed, and only slightly getting ripped off, I was off to the warp gate. Obviously located in the center of town, the warp gate was a centerpiece for this town, like all that have them. It was a gigantic circle, gold plating covered the entire thing. There are two statues of, what I would guess would be, knights. There gold armor glimmered in the sunlight with their hands forever resting on their swords. The warp itself was a trippy, swirling vortex of some blues and purples. I tried not to look at it too much otherwise I would probably barf. I stepped into the warp, as soon as I passed into the warp, all the noise of the surrounding town activities suddenly died out. The surrounding area all quickly turned to black, I tried not to think about the fact that I was standing on nothing. Everything was black, yet I could see clearly, it truly was a weird experience that you never get used to.

"Name your location," I booming voice echoed as a map hologram appeared in front of me, showing me the available warp towns.

"Town of Beginnings."

I don't know how to describe it. It was a toss up between a rush of air suddenly passing through me and suddenly being swept up and taken away. Make sense? Oh well, either way the experience was enough to make me almost lose my footing. "You have arrived," the voice boomed again as a glowing, white portal appeared. I stepped through it, shielding my eyes at the sudden transition into the bright sunlight.

The Town of Beginnings is quite an amazing place. To begin with, it was huge! There are shops around every corner and tons of people packing the streets. Since this town is in the center of the map, it acts like a stopping point for groups that are traveling across. The result is a lively town. The warp was in the center, obviously, and there were four major streets going in separate directions. This divided the town into fours, then there were secondary roads that made a ring around the warp, these continued out until the edge of the town. It was a pretty nifty set up. I was meeting the others at the weapons shop here in town, so that would be more toward the outer ring.

I juked and jived my way through the packed streets until I saw the big, bronze sign hanging with the classic blacksmith logo on it. The door tinged as I opened it, there was only one other person inside, not counting the shop keep. "Hello there!" The NPC owner's voice boomed. He was quite a large man, ragged clothes, apron on, and a seriously impressive beard.

"Hi," I said half under my breath as I approached the other player, "that you, Tyler?"

I was fairly confident it was, but I didn't know for sure. The avatar looked close to him in real life; he was wearing a plain, white, loose shirt with some standard dark color pants. He looked up from the weapon case, his scarily long hair was partially in his face. He brushed the bright, red hair out of his eyes, "I guess that's you, Nicholas!"

"Yeah, you can call my Nick," I said with a smile.

"Oka-Whoa!" Tyler suddenly jumped in shock and excitement, "Your..your name just changed to Nick!"

I cracked an awkward smile, I forgot he just started, "Yeah, AO has a dynamic naming system. If you tell a player 'You can call me...' then the naming system will automatically change for that specific player. It's nice not having to say crazy ass usernames."

"Wow! You can call my Tyler!" As he spoke his name, located just above his HP bar, changed to Tyler, "I was just trying to decide what weapon I wanted to go with," he said turning his attention back to the weapon case.

I looked into the case with him, "Have you played any other MMOs?"

"Yeah," he thought for a moment, "I'm usually just a tank or strength type, but that gets boring sometimes."

"Well," I cracked another awkward smile, "anything you choose in AO will certainly not be boring."

"Let me see that two-handed sword," Tyler pointed to the large sword on the wall.

The shop keep handed it to him, as soon as the weight was fully in his hands you could tell it was heavy. He was almost struggling to keep it upright, "God damn..."

"Two-handed swords require quite a bit of strength," the shopkeep studied Tyler, "not many new players use them because of that reason."

Tyler took a step back so he had enough room to make a couple swipes with the blade. Jeez, his swing was so damn slow. "Man, that's quite a slow slash there," I decided to point it out.

"I know," he studied the blade, "guess I will have to farm a bit."

"Really? Why do men always go for the biggest blade?"

I looked up to what, I could only assume, would be Jennifer. I wasn't really prepared to see what I saw. You know how RPGs have a tendency to over-sexualize female characters? Yeah, AO didn't stray too far from that path. She stuck with her golden blonde hair, it was much longer in game though. She wore it up in a ponytail but it still almost reached her calves. She had on what I could only guess what some sort of light weight armour, if you wanna call it that. She obviously increased the size of her breasts as the armour made almost no attempt to contain them. Continuing down was an armoured skirt, again, revealing quite a bit of leg. Finally a nice pair of boots capped off the figure, it was quite a sight.

"You call that armour?" I said without really thinking about it. I immediately realized what I was saying and cursed myself. I did that a lot after speaking my mind, it usually didn't happen too often in this world though.

"It does the job," she looked down at herself, "this is actually one of the less revealing ones."

Tyler would of spoke, but his jaw was pretty much on the floor as he looked her up and down. I was trying not to do the same, looking away pretending not to notice her. Smooth. "Are you done gawking yet?" She shot a frustrated look at Tyler.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he responded after collecting himself. He tried to act like he was really invested in inspecting his soon to be sword.

"Why don't you grab a sword you can _actually_ handle?"

"I can handle it!" he shot back as he paid the shop owner.

"What are we doing first?" I decided to jump in before they started another argument.

"Well noobie here needs to level up so," she thought for a moment, placing one hand on her hip and the other on her chin. She moved just enough to reveal more of her mid-section than normal. It was quite dazz-nope, nope, nope! Not going to think about that! "We could knock out a few quests, unless you want to go farm instead?"

I had to snap out of my day dreaming and respond, "I'm more of a quest kind of guy, not much for grinding."

"Quest it is!" Tyler yelled out swinging around his new, giant blade.

"Watch it!" Jennifer snapped at him.

We quickly found an NPC to give us one of the standard beginner quests, mostly linear quests about killing someone or something. I never really paid attention to the storyline in these, they were mostly quite boring. I think in this one we are supposed to attack some bandits that did something to someone, or something like that. All I know is we swiftly moved to a small forest near the town, the forest of beginnings if you will. Tyler wouldn't stop swinging his giant sword around, testing out different attack skills.

"You really are enjoying that thing, aren't you?" I asked as we walked deeper into the forest.

He charged up an attack and thrust forward, a slow, yet powerful, stab attack, "Yeah! This thing is pretty sick!"

"Hopefully you can hit your target..." Jennifer mumbled under her breath. She had since equipped her long bow, holding it in her left hand, quiver on her back. I also noticed she had equipped a knife on the left side of her hip, it wasn't like mine, hers was a stubby, bulky blade.

"Why ranged?" I asked.

"I ask myself that question a lot," she replied, "I guess it's because I'm good at it. I love being able to move around, bombarding enemies from afar. Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of a good sword fight, but if I can drill you between the eyes to prevent a sword fight, then I will! So...why speed blades?"

I really didn't feel like answering. This was quite normal for me, I'm not sure why. I wasn't really much for small talk, even when I am with friends like this. I am the quiet one that just likes to enjoy the other person's company. Quite frankly, I suck at small talk. Which is quite ironic since I initiated this conversation. Maybe that's why I just prefer to stay quiet. Oh thank god, enemies are in the area, "Heads up," I avoided the question.

The three of us made quick work of this "bandit camp," if that is what you want to call it. There were five bandits, one ranged, crowded around a campfire. I cut down three of them by the time the others were taken care of. Jennifer made quick work of her man, but Tyler needed a little assistance from her for his man. To be expected with his slow attack, he landed one blow, but that was about it. He sat on the ground after the fight, sword stabbed into the ground, "Man!" he gave out a sigh, "that really wore me out!"

"It was one fight, a short one," Jennifer looked at him annoyed as she assessed her rewards for the fight, "I didn't realize you were that quick, Nick."

I had already swiped away the reward box like a fly, knowing it wasn't going to be much, I let out a slight blush at the compliment. "Thanks," my nervous head scratch also made an appearance, "Shall we continue?"

We completed about five or six quests by the end of the day. The typically kill some bandits or deliver a message kind of quests. I had a good time even though I wanted to cry at the little amount of EXP I was getting for each fight. Tyler managed to do a little bit better, actually he leveled up a couple times which helped his attack. I tried to warn him about going hardcore strength right off the bat, but he went for it anyway. He was so eager to be able to properly wield his weapon there was no stopping him. It was quite a fun day. We decided to finish off the day with some good ol' farming in the fields next to the town.

I sat back and watched as Tyler charged up his attack, the goblin he was targeting took notice a little too late. He hollered out as he swung his blade forward, activating a lunge skill at the same time, he shot forward striking through the goblin, ending up a few yards past it. The goblin shattered into pieces after the one-hit. Tyler jumped for joy as the reward dialogue popped up and some confetti shot around him, indicating he had leveled up. "Finally! I can one hit these bastards!" He grinned and gave me a peace sign.

I smiled, I hope he doesn't expect to go throughout this entire game trying to one hit enemies. Combos is where it's at. I looked over at Jennifer who had just launched an arrow into a goblin's back, it turned around just in time to get a double shot into the chest, killing it. She gave out a little smirk, "This is too easy!"

It was nice spending all of this time with my friends, but even after just this one day, I could already feel myself yearning to be out in the world by myself. I loved going on adventures by myself, no one to second guess what I'm doing or why. No one to get in the way. Sure, sometimes situations get heavy, but I haven't died yet. I can always figure out how to handle myself. Being by myself, at least I don't have to worry about protecting a party member. I let out a sigh as I sat down on the cool grass, watching my friends, who were now in a heated argument, again. I need to force myself to have more days like this, it's the only way I'm going to get better at interacting with people. I took a deep breath as the nice breeze whipped around me.

My peace was broken by a sharp, "Hey!" It was Jennifer, "Are you going to join us or not, Mr. Too Cool?"

"Yeah! You tapping out already?!" Tyler jumped in, both of them were smiling at me.

I guess they weren't going to let me get lost in my own little world. Maybe that's what I needed, someone to just give me a little push. "I'm coming," I got up slowly, it was quite a beautiful sight. In front of me I had the world that I love, and some friends that can only make it better.

* * *

A/N: I'm back! Officially done with college forever! Yay! Today we get a fresh taste of what life is like inside Athalia for Nicholas. Stay tuned!


	5. I Don't Feel Alone

I was sprinting close to my top speed, if we didn't act fast, we were going to lose them in the forest. I was off to the right of a band of bandits we were tasked with eliminating; yeah, it was another one of those boring quests. However, this one was proving quite difficult. It had been a few weeks since we started playing together, Jennifer, Tyler, and I. We had all leveled up substantially. Tyler could actually efficiently wield his weapon whereas Jennifer's bow skills had become scary good.

Tyler proved to be no match for Jennifer and I's speed, however, as he had fallen far behind the chase after these bandits. I was off to the side, keeping pace, but not for long, and Jennifer was directly behind them. She was quite a ways off though, still within range of her bow, but it would be a tough shot. I glanced back in time to see her level off, arrow drawn, she was making her move. I followed the lightning fast arrow as she released it, her recent bow upgrade proved to increase her arrow's speed tremendously. I could barely keep eyes on it. One of our enemies gave out a mighty groan as the arrow pierced through his calf; now it was my turn. I planted my foot and pushed off with all my power, altering my stride directly toward the stumbling enemy. I lashed out with a blade, activating one of my higher level speed skills, within a flash I slashed straight past the bandit. He had no time to react as my blade sliced through him. I landed quite a ways away from him, keeping my pace with the rest of the group as my target gave out a final groan and shattered into pieces.

Another arrow made its way toward the three remaining enemies, it whizzed by her target, but was close enough for the bandit to alter her direction enough. The light equipment and agility must mean she was either a speed type or range, either way, I was taking her out. I leaped toward her, blade in front. I was right on target, there was no way she stood a chance. Then…"Fuck!" I cursed under my breath as their tank had predicted my attack, throwing his shield out in front of my blade. A loud clash of metal rung through the forest as my attack deflected off, sending me off balance and tumbling. I regained my composure fast, in fact, in just enough time to deflect an incoming arrow. "Knew it," I said to myself as I furiously slashed away incoming arrows.

I guess I forgot about the third guy, but he was sure to make his presence known. A split second after the red, alert flash popped on my screen I jumped to my side, avoiding a devastating sword that punished the ground that took the blow for me. The dodge was not entirely successful as I took an arrow to the knew in the process. The beastly man charged at me with his massive sword, I was able to deflect the oncoming swipe enough to miss me, now was my chance to land a couple blows.

I landed a couple swipes on him then dashed back before he had a chance to retaliate. I shielded myself from a barrage of arrows as he made his second charge, "Fuck." I leaped over the sweeping blade, he was going to go for an upper cut next. He let the momentum swing him around as his blade went low, I stepped to the side just in time for the heavy blade to slice upwards next to me. There was no way for him to quickly recover from that move, I landed blow after blow at his unprotected mid section. "Come on!" I screamed as I put together a long combo, "Shit, too long!" I stayed in too long, and he was sure to make me pay for it.

The heavy blade came sweeping back down to me, no time, I have to block. I caught the blade with mine just above my head, the impact sending a massive shock wave through the area. My feet pounded deep into the earth as the energy transferred through me and into the ground. There was no way I could hold this, if only I had an archer or something as back up. I smirked, almost sensing the arrow being released at that very second. The arrow slammed into the side of his head, the powerful shot threw him off balance enough for me to power back his blade. The shock was too much for him as the blade went flying through the air, a swift four hit combo did him in.

"About fucking time!" I hollered back in her direction.

"Well if you hadn't fucked up!" She crouched, arrow ready.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice came from behind her, it was Tyler, "I'm here!" He leaped from the wilderness, landing next to me, blade drawn.

"Little late," I deflected a couple of arrows, now they were just toying with us, "we got two left, a tank and an archer."

I peered across our now battleground, the tank must have had some equipment stored away as he was now in full armor, and man was it bulky. His glossy armor shimmered in the moonlight, an incredibly large shield was slammed into the ground in front of him. The little archer remained behind him, I guess gathering up her mana for our anticipated attack, as she wasn't firing many arrows. "That's a two-handed shield, guys," I alerted them.

"The fuck is that?" Tyler's dumbfounded face was priceless.

"A very powerful shield," Jennifer answered in a very sarcastic tone.

I could easily get around the big guy, the archer would take a couple hits max, I would probably take a few arrows, but nothing serious. The problem is the big guy, I don't have the kind of power to get through that shield, or armor for that matter. I would have to time my attacks well….No. I looked over at my party, my friends. They were ready. I have to trust in them, like they do with me. "Here's the plan," I hope this works, "Remember that skill you learned earlier?"

Tyler smirked, "The one you said I was a dumb shit for taking? Yeah I got it."

"Charge that bitch up," his smirk changed to a smile of pure joy, "Jen, you'll get only a few seconds, make it count."

She nodded, I could already see the white aura flowing around her drawn arrow, she was charging up for a big one. Tyler started charging as well, he was in his battle stance, both hands on his sword, outright to the side of his body, ready to attack. "I'll lead the way," I stepped in front of Tyler, letting out a deep breath, "Say when."

I focused on my opponent, deflecting an arrow or two as I waited for the go. This was going to be interesting, their archer had to have a full charge going. She is probably going to, no, she is going to, release a barrage attack when we start. I have to make sure none of them hit Tyler as I charge, otherwise his build up will reset. Such a stupid attack he learned, requires way too much build up. "Now!" Tyler hollered, within a half second I was on the move.

I dashed straight for the tank, deflecting arrows that seemed to be coming faster and faster. Then it happened, a glint from behind the tank, then...hell. I put all of my focus into hitting every single arrow, if I couldn't hit it, I let it hit me. As long as nothing gets through. The barrage was a well built up one, taking way more health than I thought. I desperately tried to speed up my deflections as I hurled toward the tank, I let out a scream as I prepared to attack. At the last second in front, I planted my foot, altering my course to the side. Take the bait you stupid bastard! He shifted slightly, making sure his shield faced me, it was enough.

"Die bastard!" Tyler screamed as he exploded toward the tank, landing the powerful slice on the vulnerable side. He ripped through the armor like butter, splitting the character in two, as soon as there was an opening, an arrow whipped by, piercing through the enemy archer. Both enemies shattered to pieces.

"Phew," I sat there on the ground, I totally didn't land that last juke move.

"Now that's teamwork!" Tyler yelled as he thrusted his sword into the sky majestically.

"Cheers!" We all said in unison as we clinked our glasses in the bar in the town of Myrefall.

"Man! It may not really quench my thirst, but it sure does taste amazing!" Tyler gulped down his entire drink.

"So what's the rap after that last quest? Where we at?" Jennifer pulled up her stat screen, "I feel like I've been stuck at LVL 25 for ages now," she finished with a frown.

Tyler quickly pulled his up as well, "LVL 20! Booyah! I'm going to catch up to you before you know it!"

"Well if I didn't spend so much time protecting your ass!" She snapped at him.

"Whatever! Like I need it!"

"You kinda do..." I whispered as I took a drink.

"Alright, Mr. Cool, stat us up!" Tyler gave me a weird, eyebrow raising look.

"Nothing really to report..." I stared at my drink.

"Are you ever going to let us know your level, bro?" Tyler had desperately been trying to find out my level since the beginning.

"Doesn't really matter," I looked at his puzzled face, "Cause...you know...the way the system works."

"Uh...higher level equals more power?" Tyler looked at me like I was a dumbass.

"Not exactly, the adaptive skill system is completely dynamic for each character," Jennifer chimed in, anything to make Tyler look like a fool.

"The adapta wha?"

"Adaptive skill system, it's more complex than a standard leveling system. It takes into account the user's skills before setting up baseline levels," yeah I think I lost him, I took another drink, "Okay, so each person has a different skill set. Some are strong, some fast, whatever. The levels either hinder or improve upon your actual skills, depending on where the level is in reference to the baseline."

"Keep going..." Tyler seemed very intrigued.

"A baseline level is the level at which you perform that skill the way you would in the real world. This is different based on how good you are at that skill. So if you are fast, your AGI baseline will probably be around 10-15. So anything below that mark will actually hinder your ability, or make you slower than IRL. Anything above, and the system gives you a handicap so you perform better than IRL."

"So...no two characters and levels are the same..." Tyler looked depressively at his empty mug, "So the only way to become the strongest player is to max out my STR here and lift IRL."

"Exactly!" Jennifer gave him a solid smack on the back.

"It's AO's way of trying to get gamers to actually do something IRL, you know, motivation to not game all day. It's actually a pretty cool move on their part," I finished my drink.

"How do I find out my baseline level for each skill then?" Tyler looked up at me.

I raised my hands, "No way to tell."

"Do you guys want to go out and do something..." Jennifer looked at us both, to which we returned dumbfounded looks.

"We are doing something right now. Unless you want to go on anoth-" she interrupted me.

"No. No more quests for god's sake," she stood up, "It's a Saturday night. Let's go out, IRL," I flinched at that last part.

"I'm down," Tyler stood up, "There's a great club in the city I've been meaning to hit up."

"Hit up?" Jennifer was calling his bluff, "When do you ever 'hit up' clubs?"

"Hey! I have a night life you know!" Tyler tried defending himself, then looked over at me, "So, how bout it?"

"I don't know guys, I think-"

"You're going," Jennifer stared me down.

"Okay…" I looked at the clock on my screen, "meet ya at the school at nine?"

"Sounds good!" They both agreed.

Before I knew it, there we stood. We were standing just outside of the club, I could feel the bass from the music pulsing through my body. It was quite a large building, maybe two or three floors. Lights were flashing all over the place, a nice crowd of people were right out front, including a very intimidating man with a clipboard. There I was, in a white polo and khaki shorts. This was my first time going to a club, I had no idea what to wear. Tyler was rocking a red button down, jeans, and a very loose tie to, as he puts it, "shows he's here to party." Jennifer, I still can't believe how amazing she looks, she had on a dress that was questionably short. It was a nice glossy white, she had some nice ear rings on as well as quite a bit of makeup.

"Let's do this," Tyler said to no one in particular as he appeared to be stretching for some reason.

As we walked through the front doors I could almost feel the people's eyes on us. Of course, they weren't focusing on Tyler or me. This was certainly going to be an interesting night. The bouncer, or entry guy, whatever he is, marked the hell out of our hands because we weren't 21 yet. Jennifer gave both of us an evil smile while he was doing it, telling us "not to worry." We made our way through the main dance floor that was packed with people, lights flashing every which way. It got hot really fast, I was almost sweating by the time we made it across to the bar. So many people!

The bartender took a glance over at us then made his way over, he was a scary looking dude. He had to be at least 6 inches taller than me, bald, tattoos all up and down his arms. He leaned against the bar as Jennifer leaned over to meet him. I could barely hear what they were saying, something about good to see you, the music was so damn loud! Tyler was already movin and groovin next to me, I pretended I didn't know him while I waited. Next thing I know the bartender headed toward the back, Jennifer motioned us to follow. I tapped dancing queen on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow, to which he practically frolicked behind me.

Now we were in a very sketchy looking janitor's closet, the barkeep shut the door behind us, muffling the sound of the music. "Just you three?" The man asked Jennifer.

"Yeah, just us," She gave him a smile back, then dug in her purse for something. She pulled out what looked like a wet napkin, "Here, wipe off the markings on your hand."

I took the napkin thing from here and did as she said, then passed it to Tyler. The barkeep dug around for a second before he pulled out a stamp, "Give me your right hand," he commanded, I gave him my shaking hand.

He slammed the stamp on my hand, after he lifted it I gave it a read, "Over 21." I looked up at him puzzled as he stamped Tyler and Jennifer's hands as well. "You know the rules, Jen," He ignored my look of question.

"I know, thanks!" She gave him a big hug, who the hell was this guy?

He then looked at both of us, "Rules are simple boys. Don't draw attention. Act like you've done this before," we slowly nodded, "Most importantly, stay the fuck away from my bar. Go to someone else's. If you get caught, lips sealed. Got it?"

His glare was enough to make Tyler and I both gulp with fear, but we agreed. Jennifer and Tyler were the first out the door, but the man shoved his hand in front of me before I could exit. I looked up at him with question and fear, probably mostly fear. He did nothing but stare into my eyes, I swear this is how I'm going to die. Then he spoke, "Take care of her tonight, or I'll break your neck."

He removed his hand then moved passed me, "But...Wha?" I couldn't spit out words.

He turned around, "That other guy is going to get stupid drunk, probably get some ass too. You look more responsible. So take care of Jen, make sure she gets home safe, and we won't have any problems."

"I'm sorry..." he stopped turning around and looked back at me, "I don't want to intrude on whatever you two hav-"

"Shut up," He stared at me with those death eyes, "She's my baby sister."

He left and I let out a sigh of relief, there was no way in hell I wanted to get caught up in that if that was some sort of boyfriend. By the time I returned to the main room, Tyler and Jennifer were waiting for me with smiles grinning. They lead me over to a table then handed me a small shot glass, "What is it?" I asked, smelling it. Oh god, that's some strong cinnamon shit.

"Shut up, toast!" Tyler held up his glass, to which we met, "To friends. To fun. And to kicking some serious ass in AO the past couple weeks!"

We all cheered and kicked the shots back. I'm not going to lie, I almost threw up. I coughed and hacked as I tried to get the burning sensation out of my mouth. Tyler smacking my back wasn't helping either. "Why did it take us so long to do this?" I could barely hear what she said.

"Cause..we're nerds," Tyler gave her a dumbfounded look.

"I'm not a nerd!" She slapped him pretty good.

"Yeah...you kinda are," now I got a slap too.

I lost track of what drink number we were on, all I know is the room was starting to get a little spinny. I decided to ease up a bit and kick some water. Jennifer and Tyler went out to the dance floor after failing to get me to join. I don't dance. Tyler was doing something, I wouldn't exactly call it dancing, but at least he was having fun. I could see Jennifer starting to get frustrated with the amount of guys that were trying to dance up on her, it was her own fault though. She was dancing quite...provocatively.

I was enjoying myself people watching, there was a hilarious couple in a fight a couple tables down from me. Apparently he opened up her phone to find a picture of someone with no clothes on that wasn't him, so they were arguing pretty intensely. Quite entertaining. On the other side of me a guy had been trying to pick up this chick since we got here, he wasn't getting very far. I didn't even see Tyler walk up, he slammed his hand on my should, "Nick! Nicholas! Dance with me bud!" He clinked his mixed drink against my water.

"I'm good man," His attention was already elsewhere, in fact, the guy had just given up on picking up that girl, and caught his attention.

"Finally!" Tyler sat down his drink and gave out a full body wiggle, that's the only way I can describe it, "I'm going in," he gave me another pat on the shoulder and then headed over to the lady.

"Good luck," I mumbled into my glass as I took a sip. Oh look, another guy is getting friendly with Jennifer.

I really didn't expect her to act like this. I mean, I guess I thought she was more mellow than that. Guess that goes to show how much I know about people. I watched as she put her hand on the guy's chest, and whispered something in his ear. To which he nodded his head and tried to nudge closer, she was trying to politely push him away. I looked away, I really don't want to see her flirt with people. Of course I looked right at Tyler, who had sat down next to the lady, chatting it up. Good play man. So, I looked down at my glass of water, now empty.

"Hey!" Jennifer popped into my field of vision, startling me a little bit, "Dance with me."

"Uh...Don't think so," I quickly refused.

"Please, I want guys to stop dancing on me."

I really wanted to say, "Well you should of thought about that before you dressed like that," but I didn't. I was supposed to be having fun, and that would just cause unnecessary drama. "I don't dance," was my choice response.

"Just move with me to the rhythm," she grabbed my hand, staring into my eyes, the overload of mascara certainly did make her eyes pop amazingly.

I grabbed Tyler's drink and chugged it, slamming the drink down when I was done, "Okay."

She jumped a bit, very excited. Then she drug me pretty much to the center of the hot dance floor. We stopped, and she turned to me, "Just move back and forth like this," she started moving her hips back and forth. It was quite...pleasant to look at.

I tried to match her pace, but pretty much ended up looking like a fool, I gave up quite fast, "I can't do this," I started walking away but she grabbed my hand.

"C'mon!" She pulled me back toward her, she put her arms around me in a hug like fashion, "follow me," she started moving back and forth slowly.

I followed, she slowly picked up the pace until we matched the beat of the music. She looked up at me, her head still buried in my chest. She gave me a very peculiar look, one that made a certain place on my body get the wrong idea. Her eyes locked with mine, she then grabbed both of my hands in hers. Never breaking eye contact until she had to, she slowly turned around. The sensation as I felt her butt press against me was quite a shock. I started breathing quite heavily as we still swayed to the music, my heart rate increased as she slowly started pressing more and more into me. I think she could feel my heart, she lifted her hand so it rested on the back of my neck and looked up at me, "Breathe," she said softly and calmly.

I was trying, but it wasn't going so well. I've never done anything like this, especially with someone that looks as amazing as her. I tried to just focus on not messing up the rhythm. I caught a familiar figure out of the corner of my eye, it was Tyler. He had walked up next to us with the girl he was talking to, they soon started dancing alongside us. Tyler held up his hand for a high five, I was to frightened to move my hands from where Jennifer placed them on her hips. She saw his gesture and grabbed my hand, putting it up towards his. He hollered out as we high fived, he was totally drunk.

We danced until my legs were killing me, we decided to take off I think around 1 in the morning. Outside the club Tyler parted ways with us, he was heading home with the girl. Apparently her apartment was within walking distance and, since he drove us here, he could make it back tomorrow morning. He made me give him some knucks as I made him agree to shoot me a text in the morning, you know, if he wasn't murdered by then. Jennifer and I were going to take a cab, I was better off than her. I could actually walk, which is good because she definitely couldn't. I grabbed a cab and we were off to her dorm.

"She going to be alright?" The taxi drive asked as we arrived, I opened the door just in time for her to puke outside the car.

"Yeah..." I held her hair as she hurled, "Go ahead, I'll make sure she gets inside okay."

He handed me a business card, "Call me if you need a pick up yourself, young man."

"Will do, sir," I gave him a smile as I helped Jennifer to her feet.

We made it to her dorm pretty easily, which was surprising since it was on the second floor. We both stumbled into her room, I managed to find the light switch and close the door as she went to the bathroom for another round of puking. Her dorm was actually bigger than I expected, there was a descent size living space attached to the bathroom, enough room for a small love seat and a TV. Then there were two rooms on either side of the living space, I assume bedrooms for her and her roommate. Oh crap, is her roommate here?

"My roommate is out of town for the weekend," I heard from the bathroom as she flushed the toilet, she must have read my mind. The sink was now running, "You can stay if you'd like."

"I don't think that's the best idea," I looked around, there were tons of photos lined all over the wall. Sports photos, girly photos, family photos, I think I have one photo in my room, and that's of my dog.

She emerged some time later, I turned around to see her tired eyes looking at me. She had taken off all of her makeup, her skin was a little paler than it was before. Her eyes weren't as vibrant, but still pretty. She actually had a couple of faint freckles on her cheeks, her hair was up in a messy bun as well. She slowly grabbed my hand, still looking into my eyes, she has to know by now how awkward that makes me feel. "Please...stay," she looked down at the end, almost like a sad puppy dog.

"Alright," I let out a sigh and pulled my phone out to text my parents, I nudged my head over at the love seat, "dibs."

She gave out a little chuckle as she walked into one of the rooms, I presume hers. I finished my text then put all of my crap on the little end table next to the love seat. I un-tucked my shirt, my god that feels amazing. I plopped down on the surprisingly comfortable piece of furniture, looks like this is my bed tonight. "Nick," I looked up to see her standing in her doorway. She had changed into an loose sweater and some very short shorts, "Can you..." I've never seen her struggle to get words out, she took a deep breath, then blurted out, "can you sleep with me tonight?"

I was in utter shock, I just stared at her. Sure I assumed she would make bad decisions tonight, but not with me! What do I do? What do I say? I couldn't think, I was frozen. I just sat there, staring at her. I could tell she was very uncomfortable, she wouldn't look at me and she kept shifting around. "Jennifer..." I looked away, I couldn't look at her, "that's a bad idea."

"I don't want to sleep alone..." Her voice was very faint and soft, if a puppy could talk that's what it sounded like.

Seriously? What the hell do I do in this situation? I don't want to make things awkward. What if I go in there and she...no! No, no, no! Not happening. She's drunk, not thinking straight. Wait, I'm drunk. Why am I thinking straight? Whatever. I can't go in there. It will screw everything up. "I can't," I stood up, "I think I should go."

"Nick...Nick!" She stepped forward as I started grabbing my things, "put those down," her assertive voice was back, I obeyed, "I don't want to make things weird. But I feel extremely comfortable around you. I really don't want to sleep alone. I really want...to..." Her assertiveness faded fast, she almost reminded me of myself.

I'm stupid, I'm an idiot, this is going to be bad, "Fine," I turned toward her, she looked up at me, "I'll stay."

She gave out a small smile, nodding a couple times before motioning me to follow her into her bedroom. I began the slow walk toward her room. I made it to the doorway, seemed to take forever. It was a twin sized bed, go figure. She had sat down on the end of it, the only light on was a small lamp on table next to the bed. She looked at me as I stood there in the doorway, you know, all dramatically. I'm pretty sure this is about the time some background music should start rolling.

I stared at her. She stared at me. As nerve racking as this situation is, and how crazy uncomfortable looking into someone's eyes makes me feel, right now, in this moment, I felt...comfortable. Maybe this is how she feels all the time, it was a strange feeling washing over me. I felt...nothing, but I wasn't empty, I was content. I was content standing here in the doorway, staring into her amazing blue eyes. Then she slowly stood up, still looking at me, blinking every once in a while of course. She walked up in front of me, looking down as she grabbed my hand. My heart stopped. What is this? Is this real? She turned around, my hand still in hers, as we walked over to her bed. This moment, this happening right now, this doesn't just happen.

Don't ruin it. Don't ruin it. That's all that plastered through my mind. I started racing through the thoughts of what was going to happen. What are we going to do? What happens when we wake up tomorrow? My eyes started fluttering wildly, like I was actually seeing the endless ways this can end badly. I lost control of my breathing, it started getting heavier and heavier. I sat down around the middle of the bed. What am I going to do? This can't end...and then there she was, kneeling down on the ground in front of me. Her eyes level with mine, her hands on my face, offering comfort and warmth. She saw right through me.

"Everything will be okay," her voice was soft and sound. Her eyes forever locked with mine, she slowly moved in. She lightly pulled my face toward hers as she pressed her lips against mine. I tried my best to kiss back, but I was in such a shock I didn't really move. My eyes were stuck open, not believing what was happening in front of me. She released her lips from mine, and stood up. "Lie down," she said as she moved over to the light.

As I made my way onto the bed, lying down on my back, I simply stared up at the ceiling. Even after the light went out I stared outward, into space. I felt her lie down next to me, she wrapped her arms around me, head on my chest, leg slightly lying over mine. I don't know when I fell asleep. I couldn't even describe how I felt when I fell asleep. There I was, lying in bed cuddled up to a beautiful girl, and I can't even explain how it made me feel. It was something new, something I have never experienced before. It's something that I will have to figure out. The only thing I do know, is for the first time in my life, I didn't feel alone.

* * *

A/N: A little action, a little romance, what's not to love? I hope you guys are enjoying the story. I honestly have no idea how Nicholas and Jennifer's relationship is going to turn out. Stay tuned!


	6. Mystical Power

Is it Christmas break already? Wow, time sure does fly by. This semester certainly seemed to fly by faster than most. I spent most of my time hanging out with my new friends, we would all hang out together at school and in AO. Now, since Jen and Tyler were both going home for the break, AO would be the only way for us to hang. I know, you want to know what happened that night, or rather morning, right? Nothing. Nothing happened, and we didn't talk about it. I wanted to bring it up but never got the opportunity, and after a while it just seemed like it would be a bother, so I kept my trap shut.

Luckily, we all still got along great. Tyler told us the details about his night every day for weeks. For the record, it ended with them fighting over the toilet because they were both puking so much. Back to this whole school thing, another semester down, another semester with all A's. The last day of school, or rather the last day I got to see Tyler and Jen, was quite an interesting one. When I got home I went straight to my room, closed the door behind me, and just stood there. The room was quiet, empty, no sense of joy. I'd gotten so used to rushing home to jump on AO to hang out with them or join a Skype call to do homework together. Hell, sometimes I didn't even come home, we just stayed at school all night. Doing homework, hanging out, talking about life. I actually talked, believe it? I don't.

That's all history I'm afraid, maybe when spring semester rolls around it will resume where we paused it, but as for now, it was just me. I looked at my phone, the background was a picture of the three of us. We were making some goofy ass faces, it made me smile. That brings me to my next point, I say it was an interesting day because of the way the goodbyes went. Tyler and I had a whole bro moment with a nice hug and fist bump, but it went a little differently whenever I was alone with Jen. Tyler took off earlier in the day so it was just me, walking her to her car after we got some lunch. It went a little like this….

 _~Flashback~_

"You didn't have to walk me to my car, idiot," she was playing with her keys the entire walk from my car to hers. I had drove to lunch, some very healthy Wendy's, "and thanks for buying lunch," she brushed the hair out of her face.

"I just wanted to give you a proper send off," I shrugged my shoulders. She was standing right outside her car door, we had stopped walking a few seconds ago, but she was still looking down, playing with her keys.

"Well-" we both said at the same time, I cleared my throat, "go ahead."

"Well..I..I just wanted to say," she wasn't making eye contact with me, she hadn't acted like this since that one night.

"Spit it out goof ball," I gave her a little love tap on the shoulder. Joke. Really? Wow I'm an idiot.

"I wanted to say thank you for all of your help this semester," she blurted it out like it was an excuse or something. Weird.

"It was fun, I learned a lot too. Hey, we have class together next semester, so you'll probably get sick of me," I tried to chuckle, but deep down I started to feel a pain. It felt like my heart was aching, I don't know why.

"Fuck Jen just say it," she cursed at herself, I was actually a little taken back, "Nick I've been wanting to talk to you about that night."

Pretty sure my heart stopped at that moment. I wanted to talk to her about it for so long but damn, now that it was actually happening I was bitching out. My mind was just screaming "Get out! Run!" I tried letting out a deep breath, yeah didn't help. "Okay...I kinda...wanted to..too," there you go you big lug, get some words out.

"Oh," she looked at me, then off to the side, "You wanna go first?"

Yeah...I had no idea what to say. It's funny, I wanted to talk about it, but I had no idea how I was going to talk about it. Let's see...nope, nothing. "Uh..." I scratched the back of my head, I hadn't done that in a while, "it was nice." Wow, I really am a dumbass.

"Nice?..." she looked at me confused, "Okay..well I just wanted to thank you for being...you know, a good guy," she looked away at that last part, "I probably shouldn't of kissed you..." Her voice trailed off after those last two words, it was like she froze, just like me. She was looking at the ground, which is good because I don't think I could take eye contact right now, "I just don't want you to get the wrong idea..."

It was like a knife out of the bushes, everything was quiet before and after she said that sentence. I don't know why it made me feel this way, like my heart just got stabbed. I never really thought about her in that way, I mean, I wasn't expecting her to want to date me or anything, but then...why did it...hurt? I could do nothing but focus on my breathing, my mind was a blank. I literally did not know what to say. She noticed, but said nothing. C'mon, man the fuck up for once. Alright. Do it. "Wrong idea?" I gave out a fake ass chuckle, "C'mon we were both drunk, it was a silly decision. Don't even worry about it," I swear her eyes got a little bit more dull the more I talked, but I pressed on, "It was a fun night, we had fun. That's all it was. No need to go into it...You should get home, your parents are expecting you soon, yeah?"

"Yeah..." I could tell she was reading straight through my bullshit, "You good?"

"Yeah," I started turning around to walk back to my car. I never looked back. I got in my car, and by the time I looked up she had already driven away.

 _~End Flashback~_

I sat in my desk chair, replaying the whole memory in my head. I must have sounded like such an asshole, blabbing on about that stupid crap. After a while I turned on my computer, a desktop notification greeted me in the bottom right corner. It was a special message from a player run newsletter about AO, I opened it up. "Mystical Quest CONFIRMED!" the headline read, "Magic does exist in the world of AO." I guess they finally pressured the devs enough for them to officially come out and say that there is a way to use magic in AO. I had looked into it a little bit, but hadn't wasted too much breath on it. Word going around was there was a specific quest that you have to complete in order to unlock mage skills. Up until now, it was just a rumor.

I read through the very extensive newsletter, which was pretty much players piecing together the little bits of information the devs released. At the end I still felt like it was more of an assumption rather than a confirmation. It got me thinking though, I wonder if the quest needed to unlock the skills had something to do with that mountain…

Quite a while ago, while I was hunting in the more northern region of the map, I came across a very strange landscape. I pulled up my map to find that an entire mountain was blacked out, no map data available. There appeared to only be one route into and up the mountainside, but I didn't stay too long to investigate. There were way too many strong monsters around there and, at the time, I was pretty weak. The more and more I thought about it the more it made sense, hints left by the devs seem to point in that direction. I researched the topic more over the next few hours, I mean hey, I didn't have anything else to do.

It was a theory that not only could you become a mage in the game, but there was actually only a limited amount of players that could obtain the skill. The theorist think that each element may have something to do with the potentially mage's power. After linking up some hints for the devs, it would appear that each mage power would become a unique skill to only that person. That would explain why obtaining it is so difficult, if someone were to get that sort of skill, that would drastically change the balance of the game. "Hmmmm..." I thought out loud, then another notification popped up labeled "URGENT!"

It was a video, a conference that literally happened about two minutes ago. The developers were discussing things about AO, and apparently they decided to touch on the subject, "To all of the players out there that have been heavily investigating the skill of magic within the world of Athalia," the quest master spoke, "I can confirm your theories. There are magic skills in Athalia. However, they are unique skills that can only be obtained by those who are worthy. As for how to obtain these skills, I'm sure there are plenty of creative minds out there that will figure that out soon enough..."

Well, I just wasted the last few hours of my life on research. Everything I was researching just got confirmed within a few seconds. Just then, my phone buzzed, it was...Jen. _'Home safe and sound. AO tonight?'_

I don't think I've ever been so relieved to see a text message in my entire life. I was actually quite interested to see if this mysterious mountain of mine was legit or not, but then again I couldn't exactly just say no and then they catch me online later. _'Sounds good,'_ I replied. Well, I know what my life is going to consist of for the extent of winter break. I'm totally going to find this mystically quest, if there is one, and I will get my hands on that unique magic skill, or skills.

"Are you an idiot?" Tyler spit out his drink as I broke the news to him, and Jen.

"It's something I gotta do alright..." I looked down at my drink, we were at our usually spot in Myrefall. For some reason we always ended up here chatting after doing whatever.

"It's stupid, Nick," he was more upset than I thought he would be, "it's a hoax! They are just trying to stir things up! Why would they put something _that_ powerful in this game?"

"I don't-"

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right on this one," even Jen didn't support my decision.

"I don't know why," I was still looking down, "but it's something that I have to do."

"Why?" Tyler looked at me deeply confused.

"Personal reasons..." I mumbled as I took a drink.

"Fine," he gave out a loud snort and crossed his arms, "then we're coming with."

"No!" I didn't mean to say it, but as soon as he finished his sentence I just reacted. They both looked at me, stared at me, not understanding.

"Why not?" Jen asked after quite a long pause.

I didn't really have an answer, I just knew in my heart that this was something that I have to do on my own. Is it possible that I just want it for myself? Am I that selfish?...No. It's not about the power...or is it? What the fuck am I doing? Why is this so important to me? Why? Why can't I answer a simple question?! I put my head down on the table. What is going on with me…

"Forget it," I heard her say, I could only assume she was putting on a fake ass smile as well.

"Shit...I gotta go, just got a message from the parents," Tyler gave out a big sigh, "I'll see you guys later...and Nick..." I didn't move, "Let me know if you need anything, buddy."

"Thanks..." I mumbled softly, I don't know if he even heard me.

"Want to tell me what the fuck is going on?" I looked up barely to see a very angry faced Jen, man, she can flip that on like a light switch, "there was no reason to snap at us like that."

"I'm sorry..."

"Nick..." her face turned from violent and hard, to vulnerable and soft, "What is going on with you? All day you have been acting more standoffish than normal. It's like..."

"Go ahead."

"It's like when I used to see you at school...before all of this, that's how you looked at us today," she was actually starting to tear up a little bit, I couldn't hide the look of astonishment on my face, "Don't...Don't push us away..."

"I'm not," I tried to gain up some sort of confidence in my voice.

"For fuck's sake..." she cursed at herself wiping away potential tears.

"I'm...trying..." I was trying to search for words, I couldn't help but feel like she is right. I wasn't meaning to do it, but for some reason I felt more like my old self more today than I have in a while. It was a weird feeling, like something inside me was slowly taking over.

"Try harder...that would devastate Tyler," Jen stared at me, then looked away, "...I guess I would be pretty upset too..."

"I'm sure you two would be-"

"Finish that fucking sentence and you die," her stare shot straight through me, "You are our friend. If you think for a second we wouldn't miss you if you just walked away..." she was fighting back tears again "...fucking idiot..." she waved her hand bringing up the menu screen.

"Wait!" I jumped out of my seat trying to stop her from logging out, she looked up at me teary eyed, "I...I'm sorry..." she logged out.

I sat back down in my chair, what the hell am I doing? Why am I trying so hard to screw this shit up? Why do I always do this? I have something...something special...friends. Real friends. People that care about me. I slammed my head down on the table, my eyes were filling up with tears. Why can't I just be normal? Why do I have to try and push everyone away? Maybe I'm meant to be alone…

"Fuck this!" I stood up slamming my fists on the table, a couple of NPCs in the bar looked over as I stormed out of the bar. I am going to get this skill. Maybe then I will be proud of myself. If I can do this, maybe I can actually face myself. I need to know that I'm not worthless. I need to know that I am strong, that I'm meant to be here.

A teleport and couple hour run later I was standing in front of it. The snow covered ground sent chills through my toes and up my legs. The wind was whipping around rather violently, sending little snowflakes flying about. I can do this. I ran down the path. I noticed that as soon as I entered this mysterious path, my location on my minimap vanished. My minimap was completely black, it would be no help for me here. The path kept going down farther and farther as I approached the gigantic mountain's bottom. How can no one of seen this on their travels?

The strange thing is, my journey over to this location was littered with monsters, yet, on this path, I hadn't seen a single one. I finally reached the part of the dirt path that started leading up the side of the mountain. As I climbed, the path became more and more vague and destroyed. The weather had certainly had its fun with the primitive path, nonetheless, there was still enough for me to maintain my heading. I climbed, and climbed, and climbed. Each step as I made my way up the mountain took more and more of my stamina, causing me to have to stop more frequently in the frigid weather. The game did a great job at simulating the feeling of freezing to death. I certainly felt it.

"Fuck..." I had to stop, I propped up against the rocky mountainside, I slid down until I was sitting on the path, my feet dangled off the edge, that's how narrow it was. I looked up, I wasn't even halfway yet. The monstrous mountain extended past the clouds into the sky. The altitude felt like it was affected my breathing as well. If only I had been smart and bought some potions before I left. I looked out, I couldn't see anything with the amount of snow whipping around in the wind now. I bet it would be a lovely view though.

"Alright..." I slowly stood up, "You got this..." I started running along the path again. My mind did nothing but race through the thoughts of my friends while I ran. It was all I could think about. Maybe...once this is over, I will be able to explain to them why I had to do this. Maybe they will understand...do I even understand? Why do I have to prove this to myself?...I have to...because it's the only way...the only way I can be happy.

"Why aren't you happy?" A deep voice boomed through the mountain. Echoing throughout every nook and cranny. I slammed my feet into the ground to stop myself. I looked around, blades drawn, ready to fight.

"Who's there?!" my voice echoed through the mountainside.

"Why aren't you happy?!" The voice boomed through once again, this time I took a step back.

"Who are you..." I whispered looking around, there was no one.

"Why aren't you happy?!" It boomed once again.

"Fuck you!" I screamed, "It's none of your business!"

"Really?" The voice sounded familiar this time, a figure appeared in front of me, "It is very much by business..."

"Who.." the figure wore a dark cloak, covering every part of its body, "..are you?"

"I..." the figure turned around, pulling the hood of the cloak off, "..am you."

I fell backwards, scrambling to back up, it was me. I was looking at myself. What the hell kind of trick is this. I managed to scramble back to my feet. "What the fuck is this?" I asked, blades still drawn, hands shaking.

"Why aren't you happy?" the figure asked me.

"Is this some sort of joke?!" I looked around and up, expecting to see...I don't know, something.

"This is no joke," the figure stepped toward me, "completing a stupid quest is not going to fix all of your problems."

"Who says I have problems..." I tried to lie.

"Honestly?" The figure looked at me like I was stupid, "I'm you. Believe me. I know. You have problems."

"You aren't me," I was getting angry, "get out of my way. Go back to whatever hell you came from!"

"Oh really?" it laughed, "You sure treat yourself like shit, oh wait, that is exactly how you _actually_ treat yourself, shocker."

"Fuck off!" I activated a speed skill striking through the figure. I went straight through him and fell of balance, landing right on my face.

"Really?" he turned around and looked at me, "You really thought that would work?"

"Fuck you," I slowly got up.

"You really should start watching your language," he mocked me, "What are you expecting to get out of this...'quest'?"

I just stared at him, or me, or whatever the hell it was. What was I expecting? "You expect getting a unique skill is going to magically solve your problems?" he laughed at me, "You are avoiding the actual problem."

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" I asked, not really wanting an answer.

"Only you can answer that question," he turned around, "but I'd go back if I were you..." He disappeared.

Maybe he's right. This whole thing is stupid. I'm expecting a stupid quest to fix everything that's going on with me. I put my blades away and looked up into the snowy sky. Why am I doing this? I let out a big sigh, I should probably go back. I need to log out soon anyway, I'm getting tired. I looked both ways, up and down the path. I've never been one to shy away from a challenge, in fact, I stayed up plenty of nights trying to solve problems I had with my code and what not. This isn't much different. It's not in my blood to just give up. "Fuck," I smacked myself in the head, "I can't go back."

I turned and starting running up the mountain. Maybe I will be able to answer all of these questions later, but for now, the only thing I want to do is find this mystical power. Maybe it will help me, maybe not. It's too late to to turn back now, I made my decision. I'm sticking with it. I will find out what secrets this path holds.

* * *

A/N: Well how about that. Jen and Nick certainly got a weird little relationship going on, don't they? Why does Nick think he needs some mystical power? More importantly, why the hell was he talking to himself? I'm not even sure I know! Until next time!


	7. Immortals

I think it's been what...a week? I'm still stuck on this fucking mountain. Every day I have logged in for a good 8-12 hours, for some reason I still haven't reached the top. Every time I think I am close, I find out that I'm not. The first time I logged out I fully expected to find that I was killed while logged out, since this wasn't a safe zone, my avatar remained. Vulnerable. However, I still haven't died. The weird figure hasn't made any more appearances either. Today, though, I was confident I would reach the top though, I had to.

Jen and Tyler had both texted me quite a few times, I know they are worried about me. For some reason I didn't reply, I wanted to, I really did. I wanted to get through this though, I want to unlock the answers. The more I run without getting to the top, the more I want to know what this mountain is hiding. I will have to face my friends at some point, but not right now. Right now, it's just me.

I had already been running for a good four hours today, I had to be at some ridiculous height. Every step took a giant chunk of stamina, trying to regulate my breathing was a joke. There was no way. This was getting way to difficult. I sat down on the mountainside once again, as I have done thousands of times on this journey. I still didn't know why I was here, or what I was trying to accomplish, but for some reason, it still felt important to me.

Suddenly, the figure appeared standing in front of me, I was shocked, but not like before. After the initial shock of him appearing I relaxed a bit, "it's just you..."

"Me? You mean you."

"Don't start with riddles...How much longer to the top?" I asked...myself?

"You'll never get to the top."

I let out a big huff, "Why's that?"

"You're afraid."

"of what?"

"Failing."

This was starting to feel like a plot for a cliché anime or something. "What? Am I supposed to suddenly dedicate myself to my cause, dispose of all my fear, and valiantly come through in some spectacular fashion?"

"No, that would be stupid," he looked at me with an eat shit look, "You are afraid of losing. Failing. Dying."

"I'm not afraid of dying."

"Jump then."

"Fuck you."

"Ah, I forgot your biggest fear," he sat down next to me, "being alone."

"I've been alone the past week, haven't I? Try again."

"You haven't been happy all week either," visions of me with my friends popped up in front of me, it was like I was watching my own memories on TV. I saw my friends. I saw their smiles. I saw my smile. "See how happy you are? Why do you think that is, dumbass?"

I couldn't talk, I was so fixated on the two of them. Their smiles. I started tearing up, which isn't the best idea in this cold ass weather. "My friends..." I buried my face in my knees.

"So I'll ask you again...Why aren't you happy?"

"I...I...I'm afraid…"

"Fucking finally you admit it," he slapped his knee, "What are you afraid of?"

"Being…alone," tears were pouring down my face now, why exactly aren't my tears freezing?

"hmmmm, is that the kind of fear that drives you up a mountain searching for a quest that may or may not exist in a false attempt to gain some sort of power over yourself? Ha. That's a good one."

"Why are you here?"

"To break you."

My heart dropped, what the hell was this? I looked over at him, or me, or whatever, my tearful eyes were enough to make him explain.

"I'm here to make sure you destroy yourself, and I'm doing a pretty good job, if I say so myself," he smirked.

"Why the hell would you say that?"

"It's the truth?" He looked at me like I was an idiot, "What? Thought I was here to help? Ha! Funny. I'm here so you realize how alone you really are." The visions appeared again in front of me, except this time, it was just Tyler and Jen. They were happy. I was no where around them. They were both in some house, with some people I didn't know. They were all talking, smiling, having a good ol' time. "You see! They get along just fine without you. Ah, I wonder what plans they have for each other..."

"What?"

"Just watch."

I watched as the visions slowly turned into what looked like a bedroom. Tyler and Jen came busting in the door, all over each other. His hands were all over her, and hers over him. They climbed on to the bed...his shirt, her shirt, his pants, her pants, they were getting undressed. "Turn it off," I looked away.

"But this is the good part!" He denied my request as I heard moans coming from Jen, "Wow, she really looks like she's enjoying that, look! Look at it!"

I refused. I didn't want to see this shit. Why was I seeing this? It's none of my business what those two do with each other. "Ah, that's where you are wrong," I was shocked, he can hear my thoughts? "You do care what they do to each other," I just stared at him, his evil smile, "You care for the girl. You worry if she is being intimate with someone. Yet another thing you are pathetically afraid of."

"Get out," I stood up, "Get the fuck out of here."

"Awwwww," he stood up as well, "Are we moving on from crybaby to temper tantrum?"

"Fuck off!" I threw a punch, once again going right through him.

"Didn't we already establish that was useless?" He smacked his face, "honestly your are hopeless."

I started walking up the mountain, to which he quickly matched my pace, "You won't make it to the top. It's impossible for you to do so, don't you know that yet?"

"Fuck you, I'm going to make it."

"Ah so dedicated," He mocked me with a salute, "You don't even know what you are searching for."

"I'm going to make it to the top, whether there is anything up there or not is my problem, so get lost."

"Hm," he put his hands behind his head, "so you are starting to accept that this is pointless, good job."

"It was never about the quest..." I stopped, I felt the tears coming back.

"No shit, sherlock, but for shits and giggles, go ahead. Let me know what it was really about."

"It's about making myself proud."

"Proud, you say? Sounds awfully materialistic. You have to have a unique skill to make yourself proud? Wow."

"I don't give a fuck about the skill," he looked over at me, it was the first time I saw a little bit of shock in his eyes, "It's about being able to do something for myself. It's about doing something that matters to me. I'm doing this for myself. Not for a grade, not for my parents, not for my friends, for me."

"That's a mighty fine speech there young man!" He gave out a mocking clap, "You must have some confidence issues if you-"

I lashed out, grabbing his throat, this time I actually grabbed him. I looked him dead in the eyes, I saw fear starting to amount in his. "You won't break me," I shoved him back, look of disbelief still filled his eyes. I carried on, he didn't follow.

I looked ahead, and couldn't believe what I saw. The path took a corner and looked to level off, I hurried my pace. Was this the top? I rounded the corner and found an entrance to a cave, the entrance was well rounded off, looking more like a doorway than a natural entrance. I walked into the darkness, slowly advancing inside the mountain. I couldn't see a damn thing. I looked back to see the doorway slowly fading away. What the fuck? I wasn't moving, but it was still getting smaller and smaller. Maybe this was a bad decision.

"So!" The room suddenly lit up with torches, I was standing in the middle of a circle, the torches lined all around. There were engravings all around the circle, some language I had no idea what it was. I looked around for the voice, but there was nothing, "You dare step inside my arena, you, who have so foolishly made this journey."

I man stepped out from deeper in the room, it was like he was stepping out of complete darkness. He was dressed in very loose clothing, it almost looked like a wizards cloak or something. That's the best I can describe it, the cloak was a very glossy blue. It actually resembled cyan more than blue, like the color of...ice. He was bald, but had a snow white beard that reached around his torso area. His hands were behind his back, it was at this time I finally could see his eyes. They were ice blue, I've never seen anything like it before.

"Arena?" I asked, one hand on one of my knives.

"Look where you are standing, young warrior. You are standing in a duel circle. You are here to fight, are you not?"

I didn't know what the hell was going on, "I'm here for answers."

"Ha! What answers are you seeking?"

"I heard that there is a quest, one that grants a person a unique skill."

"That's amusing," he stroked his beard, "What makes you think you are deserving of such a quest?"

"I've traveled up this mountainside for a week-"

"So you made it up a mountain? That makes you worthy? Ha!" His voice gave me chills, "You will have to prove yourself much better than that," he waved his hand toward me. Two giant blocks of ice shot up in front of me, what the hell was he? The ice blocks then shattered into weird figures. They had the basic figure of a person: head, body, arms, and legs. The arms and legs were bulky toward the body but looked sharp as blades when you got toward the end where the hands or feet would be. "Young warrior, defend yourself."

They flew at me with lightning speed, I barely had enough time to draw my knives. I deflected the first one's slice attack, but I couldn't block the other. He sliced along my side as he flew past me, I leaped over to the other side of the arena. The slice did moderate damage, not too bad though. "You will have to move faster than that if you are going to survive," the old man motioned to the two ice figures as they charged again. This was going to be interesting.

I dodged as fast as I could, deflecting every blade, or limb rather, that came my way. I wasn't fast enough, for every few blows I blocked or dodged they landed one. They were running me raged all over the arena, I couldn't even land a blow. I was getting tired, my stamina was depleted from the constant movement. What the hell were these things? They moved so damn fast. One charged at me, winding up for a powerful slice, I dodged, flipping around, now was my chance at a strike. I used my momentum from dodging into my flip as I went for the attack, then a ice blade out of no where protected it. How the hell did the other one get over here that fast? The sudden clash of my blade with its destroyed my momentum, kicking me back a little bit. They came from both sides, I jumped as they both stabbed at me, landing behind them. I went for another attack, going for a low, off to the side slash. They quickly recovered and deflected my blow away from them, sending me off balance and almost falling to the ground. I got up slowly, they were certainly just toying with me now.

"You are weak, young warrior," the old man spoke as he watched me fight for my life, "I was hoping for a stronger visitor."

"Fuck you!" I deflected both creatures blows away from me, damn, that deflection took too much energy. I need a way to go on the offensive, but how? There is no way I can beat these things, they are too fast. Every attack I throw at them they deflect or dodge, then I face a fury of counter attacks.

No. I can do this. I just need to throw everything I have at them. They stood in front of me, both ready to defend against whatever I throw at them. They were fast, but I can be faster. I need to use my speed, it's my greatest asset. I looked around, there wasn't much I could use for leverage. I looked up, nothing but darkness, I hope there is a ceiling somewhere up there. They were fed up with waiting, they started to charge. This was my only chance, I activated my highest level speed skill. I flew past them, they instinctively braced for an attack, but I flew right in between them. As soon as I landed I launched again, making circles in random patterns around them. Faster. I can go faster.

I flew around them, in between them, all around. They tried to keep up as I kept increasing my speed. They finally reacted by going defensive, back to back in the middle of the arena. It was getting to the point I noticed they were starting to look where I was, not where I was going. Only problem was my stamina was depleting. I had to act now! I planted, I launched another speed attack. I exploded toward the center of the arena, sending a massive shock wave throughout the cave. I was on them, they hadn't reacted at all, they barely got their creepy ice heads around to my location. I had them, this strike would be it. I could kill one, if not both. This ends now!

"Die!" I screamed as I shoved my blade toward them.

They reacted within a split second, I've never seen anything in this game move that fast. I didn't even know anything could move that fast. My blade was blocked, the creature I was going for had blocked my attack. I was frozen there in mid air, in disbelief. How could it block that? How in the world could it move that fast? My disbelief quickly turned to anger at my failure, I can't let these things beat me. Time resumed as I slammed into the creature's block, it deflected my entire blow straight upwards. I guess I was going to find out if there was a ceiling.

My momentum hurled me into the darkness, I twirled around, legs up, waiting for some sort of impact. There it was, I slammed into the ceiling, causing quite the ruckus. It felt like the entire mountain was shaking from my landing. I was going to throw everything I had at this next attack, all of my mana is going into this one blow. I launched myself from the ceiling, throwing all my mana into my most powerful speed skill. I hurled toward the ground, faster than ever before. My blades outright, I was going to slash both of these bastards at once.

I saw them bracing for the attack, the split second between them coming into view and being upon them showed me that. They both had both of their arms up in blocking fashion. I didn't give a fuck, I'll go through them. The impact shook the entire mountain, sending shockwaves and dust throughout the entire room. I felt like my body was going to rip apart at the impact, I felt both of my blades slam against their blocks. Then I felt the blades start slicing through, for that thousandth of a second, I won. I then slammed into the ground, the impact with the ground itself destroyed a good chunk of my health. I was sure I got them, I felt my blades slice through their blocks. Dust filled the room, I couldn't see anything. I slowly stood up. I was dead, worn out. My stamina, my mana, and nearly my health all depleted. I threw everything I had at this fight.

The dust settled, my heart sank with remorse as I found both figures still standing. They were on either side of the circle, somehow after the impact of the block, they must have deflected my attack into the ground, giving the feeling that I was slicing through them, when really it was just air. I looked up toward the dark ceiling, I had tried my best, that's for sure. I can't say I have any regrets, there was nothing more I could have done. That was my everything, my full power. All of this time I thought I was powerful in this world, yet, at this moment, I felt weak. "Finish it," I was now looking at the ground. My request was met by silence, nothing moved, no one replied.

"That was a mighty fine fight, son," the old guy finally humored me with a response after good knows how long.

"It was a loss," I looked over at him, he was staring at me from just outside the circle.

"Are you through then?"

I dropped my blades on the ground, they were too heavy for me to hold. I fell to my knees, my legs were burning, my head was heavy, my eyes heavier. Damn this game did a great job of simulating these feelings. I guess this was enough of a response as he slowly approached me, the two creatures looked like they were now relaxing. They weren't coming to attack me. Why?

"Do you feel you could of fought better? Harder?"

"No..." I didn't look up, "I gave everything I had...It wasn't enough...but it was everything..."

"Do you know why you could not land a strike on my warriors?"

"I wasn't fast enough..."

"Wrong," he was now standing right in front of me, "they are unbeatable."

I looked up at him, "What?"

"They cannot be defeated."

"How is that possible?"

"They are immortal objects," he looked at both of them, "their single purpose in life is to defend the very nature that created them. They make excellent sparring partners as well, as you have already found out."

I slowly stood up, "So you set me up with a fight that I couldn't win? What the hell...cheap trick..."

"Would you of still fought if you knew you could not win?"

Would I? I honestly didn't know. What is the point of fighting if you can't win? At the same time, I wouldn't of just given up. I can't. That's not me. "Yes," he looked at me intrigued, as if asking for an explanation with his eyes, "I would of wanted to know for myself that I couldn't win. I would have given it my all, no matter what you said the outcome would be. It's not in my blood to just walk away because someone said it would be hard."

He smiled. Look at that, his minions kick my ass and now he smiles at me. Who was this guy? Whoever he was, I hope I'm on his good side. "An excellent and honest answer, young warrior," he put his hands back behind his back, "What would you do with a power that only you possess?"

"I..." I assume he is talking about the unique skill, I mean, what else would he be talking about, "I don't think I would use it." Wow, that actually shocked myself as I said it. It all became clear to me though, just in this moment, "If I had a skill that only I possess, I wouldn't use it. I wouldn't want to have to rely on a powerful skill to bail me out of a situation. I would want to fight fair, evenly."

He looked at me rather puzzled, "Then what is the purpose of attaining a unique skill?"

"I would only use it if I had to," his puzzlement starting to fade away, "I wouldn't want to have to rely on the skill to get me through everything."

"You are an interesting lad," he smirked at me once again, "You want a power that no one else has, yet you wouldn't use it. You want to fight evenly with someone, but everyone has different skills, so that is impossible. You say you don't want to rely on a skill, yet...shouldn't you?"

"Should I? It would just draw attention to myself..." people in MMOs are douche bags when it comes to having something not everyone can have.

"Shouldn't you own a skill as your own. Shouldn't a unique skill define you, be a part of you, are your blades not a part of you?"

"They are," I was confused, all of my clarity quickly faded away, why am I even up here if I wouldn't use a skill. Damn I'm confusing myself.

"What is the difference between your blades and this potential unique skill? Your blades are a part of you, why would a unique skill not be?"

"Because...people would-"

"People would talk? People would notice you? What does it matter what others think? What others think about you doesn't affect you."

"People would think I am just powerful because of the unique skill."

"But aren't you powerful not because you have the skill, but because what you went through to obtain it?" He smiled at me once more.

"These riddles and questions are getting irritating old man," I stared at him blankly, "Can you point me in the right direction or am I wasting my time?"

"If I told you I have the ability to bestow a unique skill upon you, would you believe me?"

I looked at him, stared at him. What was his angle? Was he really trying to help me or was this just another dead end? "I would certainly be interested," I studied his response, he was thinking, man this was a well played out NPC.

"What if I told you you are not worthy of such a skill?"

"Then I would respectfully disagree," I picked up my blades, I have decided that this was a waste of time. I sheathed both of my blades, "I will leave you in peace, old man, I'm through."

I started walking toward the door, that at some point came back from the faded abyss. I may not have gotten what I came up here for, but I certainly had figured a few things out on this journey. I know now why I was running from my friends. I know now that I am afraid, and I just need the opportunity to explain that to them. I'm afraid of losing them, I'm afraid of what might happen if I say something wrong or stupid. I wish I didn't have to come up this stupid mountain to figure out something so simple, but hey, the world works in mysterious ways, and this world is no different.

"Young warrior," I turned around to see the two creatures standing behind the old man, "Accepting your fear is how you defeat it. You are a fine young man, and an excellent fighter. Best of luck in your future endeavors, allow me to make your trip to the bottom a short one," he held up two fingers toward me.

All I saw was a bright flash and I was standing in the snowy wilderness. I looked around, the mountain was no where in sight. My minimap was now up, the location was the same as where I was before I started my journey. I grabbed my head, trying to make sense out of everything that had happened to me. I smiled, I can't believe the journey that I just went on. I can't believe what just happened. I can't believe it was just a wild goose chase! At least, I looked up into the snowy sky, I finally found the answers to my questions. The next step was making things right with my friends, I need to let them know how I feel, and maybe if I'm brave enough, I will someday be worthy of such a unique skill.


	8. You Guys Are My Best Friends

I sat there in my car, I had driven all the way out here, over thinking how this was going to play out the whole way. I had apologized to my friends over Skype last week, and I explained to them what happened to me. They were accepting, Tyler more than Jen, but that was expected. Tyler had told me about a party he was hosting at his house, and that Jen and I should come. Naturally, we agreed. It was only about a six hour drive for me, Jen was around a eleven hour drive. Even after all that we talked about, even after all was forgiven, here I sat, nervous as hell.

It was dark out even though it was still fairly early, that's the beauty of winter, short days and long nights. I gripped my steering wheel as I looked out onto the house. I could hear the faint sound of music playing and people being incredibly obnoxious, I could see people walking by the front window every now and again. My stomach was churning, I couldn't help but be nervous to walk in there. I still felt like I had to do more to gain forgiveness, even if I had already received it. I looked around, there was quite a few cars here, including Jen's. I don't know if I would be able to look her in the eyes, the memory of her logging out in front of me teary eyed had haunted me since the day it happened. She, since then, had been playing it off like it was no big deal.

I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel and laid my head back on the headrest of my seat. I don't know why I was acting this way. It's my friends. I spent god knows how many hours with them this semester, and yet here I was, afraid to walk in and talk to them. I started to remember that Skype call, the way I barely held it together as I apologized to them, desperately trying to explain how I felt. Afterwards, they had asked me where I had been for the past week or so. I can't believe that I shut them both out like that.

 _~Flashback~_

"So what the hell man, where have you been the past week? I texted you like twenty times, I was worried about you man," I just stared at the screen as I could see the worry pouring into Tyler's face. He had played it calm and cool up until now, but his emotions were quickly taking over his facial expressions.

"It's his life, why should we give a shit?" Jen had had that face of hatred for the entire Skype call, never faltering.

"I...went on a quest...of sorts..." I tried my best to keep my ground, I had been sincere and honest this far through the conversation, I was proud of how I was talking to them. They may be mad now, but I was being honest and open with them, that's the important thing.

"You went after that skill didn't you?" Tyler smacked his face, "And?"

"It was interesting..." I proceeded to tell them about my entire adventure. I told them about the ridiculous amount of time that it took to get up that mountain, the strange figure that appeared and looked exactly like me. I told them about the old man that I spoke with, the ice monsters that I fought, and ultimately lost to. I told them everything, I told them every thought I had, I didn't hold back. I didn't even hesitate when it came to the part about seeing them two together, whether that was true or not, it didn't matter.

"So..." Jen broke the silence after the dead air that filled the call after I finished my story, "that definitely didn't happen..." her look of hatred had faded to a look of discomfort and awkwardness.

"I wanted to tell you guys everything, so, sorry if it was a little much..." I couldn't help but feel bad, I made this conversation incredibly awkward.

"I'm glad you are finally opening up to us buddy," Tyler put on a small smile, "so about that vision-"

"No. Not happening. Not gonna happen. Never happened. Just. No," I guess Jen had to make it perfectly clear.

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at her, Tyler as well. "So wait, you never received an official quest announcement or whatever for that quest, did you?" Tyler brought up an excellent point. Usually, as soon as you begin or accept a quest, a notification pops up informing you of that. At the very least, your quest log is updated with the current information. None of the above happened with this quest.

"Maybe it was just a hoax then," Jen chimed in.

"The old man was a very sophisticated NPC..." I was remembering the conversations with him.

"Maybe he was a player?" Tyler asked.

"No, he didn't have a player cursor."

"And by the way, what was up with the weird seeing yourself thing? That's some serious psychological stuff at work there," Jen's curiosity was winning over her anger for me, at least for the moment.

"I had never experienced anything like it."

Tyler started laughing, "and after everything you went through, you lose the fight AND you tell the old man that you wouldn't even use the skill?!"

"Yeah what the hell was with that last part?" Jen agreed.

"I don't know...seemed right at the moment..."

"Yes I would like a powerful unique skill," Tyler said mocking my voice, "Nah, I just want to look at it, not actually use it."

"I don't want to have an unfair advantage over anyone," I looked at them both, "it would feel like cheating."

"See," Jen was pointing at me through the camera, "I agree with the old man. You went through hell and back to get that skill, you earned it, it should be a part of you. Like your blades are of you. Like my bow is of me."

"That's cool, just leave me out..." Tyler mumbled.

We ignored him, "I guess you are right...I just worry about what would happen if anyone ever found out that I had it. Even though now I guess I'll never find out..."

Jen looked at me with that stare, she could always see right through me, "You are still thinking about that fight, aren't you?"

I tried to look puzzled, "No. No way, there was no way to win that fight anyway..."

"I know you, Nicholas Falcon. You never can stand defeat."

"It was rigged so..."

"If that helps you sleep at night, champ," she had to hide a slight smirk that snuck out of her lips.

"I almost forgot!" Tyler barged into the conversation, "I'm throwing a house party next weekend, you guys should totally drive down!"

I thought for a moment, then checked my phone, "Yeah I'm off next weekend."

"I'll be there," Jen agreed too.

"Sweet! So you guys can totally meet…." His voice trailed off.

 _~End Flashback~_

I came back to reality, "C'mon..." I tried to pump myself up. Finally, I got out of my car, "...first step is the hardest, right?" I must seem like an idiot talking to myself.

I walked up to the door, the front porch was nice, had flowers and such all around, nice clean look to it. I knocked lightly...no answer. I knocked again a little more heavily...no answer. "For fuck's sake..." I took a deep breath and swung the door open.

Tyler noticed me walk in immediately, "There he is!" He jumped with excitement then ran over to me, shoving a shot glass in my hand, "drink this!"

"What is-"

"Shut your trap and drink!" He nearly shoved it down my throat.

If death was a liquid, this is what it would taste like. The taste stung my tongue and my throat as it made its way down to torment my stomach, I couldn't stop my natural reaction to cough and hack my lungs out. Tyler just stood there with a big smile as he smacked my back, which really wasn't helping the situation. "Atta boy, tequila will put some hair on your balls!" He was overjoyed.

"Trying to kill me right when I walk in, huh?" I was finally able to stand up straight enough for him to give me a nice bro hug. You know, the kind where you slap hands then pull in for a one handed hug with a back tap. Very manly.

"Just trying to get you caught up buddy. It's good to see you," He put a hand on my shoulder and turned toward a few people that were sitting on the couch. I didn't even notice that I was in the living room, it was quite spacious. There was a long couch that made an "L" around a quite fancy looking screen...oh shit it was a HD projector! I just noticed the projector on the ceiling, that's some awesome shit right there. Other than that there were a couple end tables to fill out the rest of the room. I guess I better pay attention to what Tyler says, "This is my buddy from school guys, his name's Nicholas!"

"That the one you been yapping about?" a guy around my age stood up. He was a little bit more...rounder, he had on a bulky hoody with some jeans. A pretty descent amount of brown and red scruff covered his face, and of course, I couldn't leave out the incredibly girlish long hair of his, which was up in a ponytail.

"Yeah man, this dude is the fastest player I've ever seen! You really have to see him in action to appreciate it!" Tyler now had his arm around my shoulder as he boasted about me.

"He never shuts his trap about your adventures," the guy was now in front of me, hand extended, "I'm Justin, Axe wielder."

Whoa, that's some hardcore nerd right there. I've never introduced myself with my player type, oh well, first time for everything, "I'm Nicholas, you can call me Nick, speed type," I accepted his handshake.

"I'm Steve!" I heard a holler from the couch, this one was a lot more skinnier and had on a pretty thick pair of glasses, pretty much your typical nerd, polo and all. Wait, I'm wearing a polo.

A not so bad looking girl was sitting on the corner, the skinny guy, Steve, had her boxed in pretty good and uncomfortable. She had shortish, wavy brown hair, freckles were spotted across her face. No makeup, one size to big sweater and sweatpants, yep, gamer chick. "I'm Megan, I've heard a lot about you," she said pretty quiet, I could barely hear her.

"Heard a lot about him?" Justin turned around and gave her a mocking look, "She's practically been fantasy banging you every time Tyler brings you up."

She went beet red real quick, it was quite funny, though I did feel bad for her cause she looked really embarrassed. "Leave the poor girl alone," Tyler finally took his arm from around me, "I'll grab you a drink," he started walking toward the back of the house, I guess that's where the kitchen was.

"Where's-"

"She's in the kitchen, I'll let her know your here," Tyler looked back at me with a grin, "though there are a few more people here as well, some that might be a little...competitive," and he was gone.

Competitive? What the hell was that supposed to mean? I tried to shake it off as I found my place on the couch, I was on the opposite end of the "L" as the other three. I'm glad the big guy joined the other two on their side, that would have been quite uncomfortable. Oh yeah, guess I should strike up some small talk, "So you guys play AO then?"

"Yeah," the two boys said in unison, I don't think...Megan, that's her name, has recovered quite yet.

"So is all this stuff Tyler talks about you true?" Steve asked, leaning forward, as if I was about to reveal some secret.

"Well I don't know what he's said about me, but he does tend to exaggerate a little bit."

"I knew it!" he slapped his knee, "he told us this one story about how you took out like four enemies by the time him and Jennifer took out two, I mean, that's a little absurd, especially for the level of the enemies."

"What quest was that?" I was trying to remember.

"I think it was 'Legend of the Lost Arc' or something like that," Justin took a drink, "the enemies were the late ship's crew, or I guess their spirits, or whatever. Honestly, who pays attention to the storyline?"

"Oh!" I remembered that one, "Yeah he totally got that one wrong," I saw smiles grow on their faces.

"See, told you he was-"

"It was six guys, including their captain, or leader, or whatever he was," I interrupted Steve.

They both stared at me, if their jaws could reach the floor they would've in that instant. It was actually kind of creepy, they weren't moving, just sitting there in shock. It wasn't that impressive...the girl then let out a slight giggle as she watched the two boys shock. Quite a cute laugh. Tyler returned, handing me a mixed drink as he sat down next to me, "So what are you guys..." he looked at both their faces, "What the hell is the matter with you guys?"

"I think they are in shock to hear that your stories are quite accurate," the girl giggled again as she sipped on some sort of ale it looked like.

"Arc quest," I looked at him as I took a sip of my drink, damn, that was strong.

"Ah!" He took a drink, "That was a fun one, my favorite had to be the one where we had to sneak into that village..." he was trying to think of the name.

"'Wolves Among Us'," I enlightened him, "That was quite fun, until you blew our cover and we had to fight our way out!"

We both laughed, "The fight way is the fun way!"

"How many quests have you guys done?" Justin was now in recovery, thanks to a few gulps of a beer. Steve had left the room, I guess to either go piss or get some more to drink.

We looked at each other, as if we were adding things up in each other's heads, "113 or so," Tyler answered for us.

"Holy fuck," Justin smacked his face, "Been busy have we?"

The small talk went on like this for quite a while, exchanging stories about AO, in fact, that's all we talked about. Of course, Justin and Steve would come out with a story, then Tyler and I would come with a more interesting and impressive story, then they would counter. It kinda turned into more of a competition than small talk. All the while the girl just sat there, listening and giggling. I hadn't seen Jen this entire time, it had already been a good three drinks since I got here, which translates to probably about an hour or so.

Then, there she was, I didn't even notice her until she was standing behind the couch I was sitting on. "Hey guys, what's going on?" Jen asked, resting her drink on the back of the couch.

"Talking about AO, duh!" Tyler looked back at her.

"Hey, Nick," I turned around, giving a slight smile and a hey back.

"Did I hear AO?" a guy came from around the corner, stood next to Jen with one arm around her and the other holding his drink. So that's what he meant by competition, "Oh yeah, you must be Nicholas!"

"Yeah, hey," I took another drink, not very enthused.

"The name's Holt, Tyler and I go way back!"

"Yeah we do!" they clinked their glasses and drank.

"Speaking of AO," Holt kinda pointed toward the another hall that I would guess went toward bedrooms, "is that tablet in your room or the guest? Jen here needs to prove a couple of her crazy stats," he pulled her a little closer to him as he said her name.

"Oh you need proof?" she lightly slapped his chest and gave him a look that didn't exactly say 'get away' if you catch my drift, actually made me quite uncomfortable.

"Guest, go for it," Tyler pointed toward the hall with his drink, and sure enough the two vanished, he then looked back over at me, "That's that competition I was talking about."

"Yeah I got that," I took a big drink of my drink, actually finishing it.

"He's quite the talker, I mean he can spit some serious game," I felt like I was being prepped for a funeral or something, "his bang ratio is a solid 4:1 on me, easy."

"That's...comforting," I tried to bury myself in my drink, but realized it was empty, I also realized that Megan hadn't stopped looking at me in quite a while, "I'm gonna go get me some more to drink," I got up and started walking toward the presumed kitchen, "kitchen?" my question and hand point was met with a nod from Tyler.

The kitchen was quite big, clean tiles and shiny appliances filled the counters. Any space that was left over was filled with bottles of various alcohol, anything from beer to liquor. Oh look, jello-o shots. I combined my favorite soda and a liquor that looked to be strong, I was going to need it if I had to listen and or look at Holt and Jen all night. After making my drink I noticed a sliding door leading out to a back deck, yeah I for sure need a breather after that one. I walked out onto the deck, the cool night air whipped through my shirt giving me chills. I didn't mind being chilly, the deck was quite large, as I was noticing that was a trend in this house. It had a nice finish to it, I guess they stained it or something. A few chairs were scattered around, a table crudely stuck in the corner, looks like Tyler just moved things around to make space.

I leaned onto the railing and looked out onto the darkness. There was a little bit of backyard that quickly got consumed by forest, I wonder how far back it goes. The towering trees were beautiful to look at as they swayed in the wind, reminded me of entering a forest in AO. In fact, I was almost tempted to dart out into the unknown, maybe find a monster or two to fight and defeat, let off some steam. I made myself chuckle, "What's so funny?" a girl's voice came from behind me. I shot around to see Megan standing in the doorway, drink in her hand.

My face must have been cherry red, I scratched the back of my head, "Uh, nothing!"

"Mind if I join you?" She looked to the side rather bashful, pretty much exactly how I looked when I was nervous.

"Sure, I don't mind," I motioned for her to come stand next to me as I turned around and leaned back on the railing. The embarrassment faded away the more I drank, I was already starting to feel it quite a bit, "So...what's up?" Yeah, great convo starter.

"I was getting tired of being crammed in the corner," She stared out into the darkness, "then I saw you out here and figured why not," she looked at me and smiled.

"Well, glad you finally escaped, was actually starting to feel kind of bad for you in there."

"He's been like that from day one," she chuckled, "I guess he thinks he has a chance or something."

"That's harsh," I laughed with her, "ever thought of telling him to back off?"

"That would ruin the fun! It's annoying at times, but quite fun to watch him try so hard."

"Cold," I smiled, the thought of it was quite funny, but I felt kinda bad for the guy at the same time, "How come you didn't talk while I was in there?"

"I prefer to listen," her breath was slightly visible in the chilled air, "besides, those two would just mock anything I said to you."

"I mean," I scratched the back of my head again, "I'm pretty sure they were exaggerating about the whole fantasy banging thing," she looked at me, then shrugged her shoulders. Now I was the one in shock, that was quite a nice surprise.

"Don't look at me like that," she slapped my chest, the retreated like I had offended her. Was she...flirting with me? I've never had a girl be up front with me, let alone be flirtatious.

"Well that's a good thing to know," I took another big drink, I guess I would try and play along.

"I don't know," she looked at me, "meeting you now I don't think you would be able to handle me."

My heart dropped a little bit, this was quite nerve racking, I had just met this chick for crying out loud. Maybe this is what its like for all those handsome, slick guys, like Holt. Wait, not like Holt. I'm better than that guy, it occurred to me that Megan was looking at me with very...seductive looking eyes, waiting for my reply. "I think it's the other way around, girly," Yeah, smooth as fuck.

She let out another giggle, "I've had quite a lot to drink tonight..." I'm not sure what that has to do with our conversation, "I tend to get a little...less clothed when I drink..." Ahhhh that's what it has to do with our conversation.

I couldn't help but let out a huge blush, she laughed at my face. "Good to know..." I hid behind my glass, was this really happening? Like holy crap. I thought stuff like this only happened in movies or stories.

She started scooting over toward me, quite slowly, as if she wanted me to notice but at the same time was trying to act normal. It got to the point where I had to move my arm and let her slowly slide in, "I hope you don't mind, it's a little chilly," she pressed up against my body, grabbing my hand that I had moved and put it around her wast.

My blushing got even worse, "Not..not at all," I tried to look out to the forest, up to the sky, anywhere really.

"Ehem!" That was Jen's voice…

I flipped around toward the sliding door, scooting a couple paces away from the now irritated looking Megan, who turned around as well. "Don't mean to...interrupt," She looked at me, then looked over at Megan, "but do you mind if I talk to him for a sec?"

Megan looked at her, as if cursing her with her eyes, then looked at me very soft and lovingly, it was quite bizarre. "I guess so..." she walked, slowly, so slow that I could see Jen's patience wearing thin. As soon as she was through the doorway Jen slammed the sliding door behind her, rolling her eyes as she walked over to me. "Boy, you sure can pick them," she was now standing in front of me.

"Didn't really-"

"I don't care," she stared at me blankly, "I want to talk to you about something."

"Okay," I stared down at my empty glass, really, it has to be empty _now?_

She took a moment to collect herself. She looked like she was trying to pick and choose words, "Okay! If you ever pull another one of your little stunts, I'll kill you."

I just stared at her, "I'm sor-"

"No!" She held up her finger, "Just simply agree, because I can't go through that again. Tyler called me literally five times a day asking if I had heard from you. Do you know what that's like?! He wouldn't stop worrying about your dumb ass."

I looked back down at my drink, "So it was just him huh?..."

"I might have been a little worried..." She mumbled under her breath.

"I really am sorry, I had some things that I had to work out on my own. I never meant to worry or hurt you guys, you are my best friends," I looked up at her in the end, meeting her eyes.

"Good," She looked away blushing slightly, "I guess you want me to shut up so you can get back at your girlfriend then.."

"Nah, I was actually quite uncomfortable," I turned back around and leaned on the rail, "unlike you..." I mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?" She walked over to me and tried snooping her head around to make eye contact.

"Nothing."

"Spill it."

"No."

"Yes."

I glared at her, and she glared right back at me, she's way better at it than me. "Just go back inside and flirt some more," I went to take a drink, fuck, I forgot.

She had a look that was taken back a bit, she blinked a couple times as she looked out into the darkness. "Why are you so concerned? It's not like I'm your respon-"

"No, your not," I looked dead at her, "Thanks for reminding me, I'm gonna go get a drink."

She grabbed my arm as I started walking away, "Stop," I obeyed, waiting in silence, not daring to look back, "Why don't you drop the fucking bull shit and tell me what you actually think of our relationship?"

"You're my friend..." I let it linger in the air for a few seconds, "...who I may or may not...I don't know!" I rip my hand from her grasp.

"So I shouldn't say I think about you a lot too, then?" I turned to see her looking at the ground, blushing quite uncontrollably.

"What happened to-"

"I say what I say because I don't know how to get close to people..." She almost looked teary eyed as she chuckled, "just like you."

I couldn't help the sinking feeling in my heart, was this a love confession or a heartbreak? I couldn't tell. I couldn't possibly tell her how I felt, I don't even know. Yeah I think about her more than I should, but does that mean I like her? I've crushed on girls before, but I usually never spoke much to them. Kind of pathetic now that I think about it. Was she this torn on the inside? She always put on such a hard act, I couldn't tell what was real and what was fake. She turned around toward the wilderness, her back to me, then she started to speak, "I always try and put on a tough act. Flirty, outspoken, cocky," she leaned against the rail, "on the inside I'm fucking terrified. Did you know I spoke to no one at my high school? Like, no one."

I didn't know whether to nod or approach, nodding with her back turned to me would be quite a stupid thing to do. I slowly walked up toward her as she continued, "Whenever I left for college. I promised myself I wouldn't be like that. I changed who I am. I changed for the better...I think..."

I was now beside her, "When we are at school, working on stuff overnight," she looked over at me, "you, me, and Tyler. When we are just laughing and having a good time. Those are some of the best moments of my life."

"That's kinda lame," she laughed at me jokingly.

"You guys are my best friends, I've never had that before..."

She grabbed my hand, opening up my arms as she snuck in and hugged me. I slowly put my arms around her, it was nice, comforting. We sat there like that for what seemed like hours, even though it was probably only a few seconds. After it ended, she walked toward the sliding door, "You guys are my best friends too, I'll get us some drinks," she smiled as she went inside.

Almost right on queue, Tyler came out through the door, looking quite puzzled as he looked at me. "Why does Jen look all...bubbly? It's weird," he leaned up against the railing next to me.

"I have that effect on people," we both laughed.

"Holt left."

"What?" I looked at him in shock.

"Yeah, he said he had to go, he also said that," he checked to make sure that no one was around, "she, and I quote, 'wouldn't shut the fuck up about that Nick guy.'"

He laughed at my blank expression, "That's...good," I really didn't know how to respond.

"Yeah man," he slapped my arm, "you won the battle," the sliding door opened and he whispered, "now win the war."

"What are you guys talking about?" Jen came out and handed me a drink, then took a sip of her own.

"About manly stuff like cars, weight lifting, ya know," Tyler winked at me.

"Yeah, okay," she tried to keep from laughing.

"Crazy how things work..." I said to no one in particular after taking a drink.

"What's that, bud?"

"At the beginning of the semester I never would of thought I would be where I am right now. I never would've believed that I would become friends with two people, that I now, couldn't imagine my life without," Jen blushed and smiled as Tyler acted like he was wiping tears, "I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but you guys are my best friends. I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

"Awwww," Tyler wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me in uncomfortably close, "the feeling is mutual buddy!"

"That bromance, though," Jen laughed at us.

I looked at her, her beautiful face. I had never seen her smile so much, it was quite beautiful. Her face hadn't yet recovered from all of the blushing, it was adorable. She caught me staring, saying nothing, but just stared right back into my eyes. It was like that moment, the one that we don't talk about. The memory of locking lips with her suddenly filled my mind, I didn't mind, it was one of the happiest moments of my life. I didn't even notice Tyler making funny faces at me, "hello love bird, Earth to love bird, come in love bird."

It was like snapping out of a trance, "What?" I looked at him, dumbfounded.

"That was a pretty intense love trance you guys were in," he smiled as Jen blushed, trying desperately to hide behind her drink, "Ya'll are more than welcome to share the guest bedroom."

"I don't think so," Jen tried to glare at him, but her face was way to flushed to be intimidating.

"Mhm," he looked back at her, then motioned for us to go inside, "C'mon! We have a party to attend!"


	9. What's Our Relationship Status?

A/N: Soooo I messed up. I TOTALLY skipped a chapter. I just realized this as I went to upload this chapter...my bad. The order should be fixed now, you will notice a new chapter called "Immortals." This chapter takes place after Jen and Nicholas have there little spat, and before we find Nicholas sitting in his car at Tyler's party. It explains what all goes down on that freaky mountain. Sorry again!

* * *

"What is this place?.." My mind felt blurry as I walked into the unknown.

Everything was white, like a bright light, but I couldn't see anything. It was the strangest feeling. I could feel someone or something in this place with me. My body barely wanted to move, I struggled to walk. I felt as if something was holding onto my legs. Suddenly, like a wave hitting me, I stumbled backwards as my surroundings changed in an instant. I was in that room again. The weird markings on the floor, just like before. Then, scary as hell, the old man appeared in front of me. He was different from before, he had an evil look to him as he stared into my eyes, peering into my soul. I tried to move, I couldn't. He said nothing, just staring and grinning with some god awful teeth. What the fuck happened here?

"Ready to fail again, young warrior?" His grin was creeping me the hell out.

I tried to speak, I couldn't. What was this? Why was this happening. "Try not to die!" The old man flung his arm out at me, a blade came out of nowhere. I couldn't move, I couldn't block. He was going to kill me! Why can't I move? I shut my eyes to avoid the inevitable.

When I opened my eyes again I was in the forest, snow all around me. I was cold, shivering actually, I looked up to see bodies lying all over the ground. Blood was all over, soaking and melting away the snow. A single person sat on their knees, I tried to look closer to see who it… "JEN!" I hollered as I could suddenly run toward her, coming to a sliding stop right in front of her.

She was shivering, her bow was in her hand, not a single arrow left in her quiver. Her face and armour were covered in blood, she had a look of horror on her face. "Why did you do this to us?"

"What? Do what?" I grabbed both of her shoulders and looked into her dead eyes.

"You did this to us."

"What happened here?" I looked around at all the bodies, I couldn't make out who any of them were.

"We were happy."

I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, "Where is Tyler?"

She looked me in the eyes, I didn't think her face could get more pale then it did now, "You let him die."

It was like someone punched me straight in the gut, I fell backwards right on my rear as I gasped for breath, "What? What do you mean?"

She slowly stood up, "You could've saved him..."

I was really freaking out now, I didn't know where I was and I didn't know what happened. Nothing made sense, why was this all happening? I watched as Jen threw her bow aside, cast away her quiver, she pulled out her knife. The blade was smeared with blood, I guess she had to use it on someone or thing. "It's all your fault…." Tears started pouring down her face.

"Jen...No!" I leaped toward her as she thrust the knife into her chest.

I shot up out of bed, sweating, panting. I looked around, I was in a dark room. I didn't really recognize what room I was in. I felt my head, then ran my hand through my hair. Now over the initial shock, the sudden realization of my actions hit me like a hammer. My head felt like it was going to split open as the headache struck. My stomach felt like it was upside down as the feeling of nausea quickly consumed me. I didn't really remember what happened...What was the last thing I remember? Gah! It hurt to think! The last thing...I was on the deck...with Jen...and..Tyler was there too.

"Hey," I felt a hand touch my shoulder, I turned to see Jen slightly sitting up and looking at me with concern.

I forgot about everything in that instant. My headache, my nausea, my dream, I was numb as I looked at her. Why were we in the same bed?...Did we sleep together? Did we sleep together or did we _sleep_ together? Oh god. Was I good? Don't think about that now… "Hi..." I managed to mumble as I hid my face behind my hand.

"Bad dream?" She laid back down on her side, readjusting herself slightly.

"You can say that..."

"Lie back down," the subtle assertiveness in her voice was more than enough for me to obey.

I lied back down on my back, looking at the ceiling turned out to be a bad idea as it quickly decided to spin around and play tricks on me. I closed my eyes, what happened last night? I don't know when I fell back asleep, but I remember feeling the warmth from Jen as she cuddled up next to me. Hopefully this went over well in the morning.

I slowly opened my eyes, my vision was a little blurry, but I noticed the lights were still off in the room. A slight glance to the left revealed the sun trying its best to peak through the blinds, I then noticed that Jen was no longer lying next to me. Was that all a dream? I grabbed my head as I sat up, it felt like there was a drummer in my head using my skull as the drum. An uncontrollable wave of nausea overtook me as I sat up, why the hell did I drink so much? I sat there for a while, face buried in my hands. I didn't look up until I heard the sounds of puking coming from a room close to mine, it was at this time I noticed the cracked open bathroom door with light illuminating from it.

I slowly got up and made my way, in a not even close to a straight line, to the door. Every step I took toward the door the sounds of puking got louder, causing my own nausea to get worse. I peaked into the bathroom, the light was blinding at first, but as my eyes adjusted I made out a figure curled in a ball on the floor right next to the toilet as it flushed its contents. A few blinks later I could make out that it was Jen. Her hair was a mess, frizzing out in all different ways. Her makeup was a little smeared from sleeping in it, some mascara had made its way down her cheeks. Gotta tell you, it was a brutal sight. Then I noticed something that put an instant blush on my face, as she quickly got up to grab the toilet again, either not noticing me or choosing to ignore me, I noticed that she wasn't wearing very much.

It became even more evident as the sounds of puking were drowned out by my heart thumping testosterone through my body. I took no notice to her heaving struggles as my eyes gazed upon her position, that could really only be described by two words. Doggy style. She was only wearing underwear, if you can even call it that. A black, laced bra that had more than a few see through spots was the only thing on her top side. As my eyes moved down her body, I could feel my face fill more and more with the warmth of my blush. Her bottom half was covered only by a matching laced thong. The sleek curve of her ass was just begging for a smack. "Are you just going to fucking stand there or are you going to get me a wash rag?" She turned to me shooting the most evil glare I've seen yet.

"Uh..." I snapped out of my gaze and scrambled around for a wash rag that I then wet and handed to her.

She wiped her mouth, sitting up criss cross applesauce style, she let her head lie in her hand. The silence was very unnerving, but it didn't last too long as the brief numbness my body kindly blessed me with was up, and now I was going to pay. "Move!" I practically leaped toward the toilet as I hurled. Jen barely got out of the way. Between my heaves of struggle, and ultimately, dry heaves, I could hear Jen snickering.

I flushed the toilet and leaned up against the bathroom counter, facing toward her. She was leaning up against the tub, she looked at me, and I looked right back at her. It was at this moment that I realized something, it was like a spark shooting through my brain, the spark plug to start the engine, if you will. What I realized was something I probably should have realized sooner; I was in my boxers. I was in my boxers in front of a hot chick. Wow. "Do you remember anything from last night?" She asked as my face flushed again with my sudden realization.

"I kind of blank out about the time we were on the deck..." I tried not to think about the current clothing situation.

"Yeah that's where things get a little bit shady for me too," she rubbed her head then smiled, looking back over at me, "I do remember crawling into bed with you, though."

I smiled, half out of nervousness and half happiness, "That was quite a shock to wake up to..."

"Yeah..." she thought for a moment, "You had a bad nightmare last night, didn't you?"

"Something like that..." I looked away from her, I really didn't want to talk about that right now.

"I guess we should have paced ourselves," I guess she sensed my discomfort and kindly changed the mood.

"That would have been smart..." I mumbled as I felt another round of puking approaching.

"You okay with what happened?..." She looked at me with a strange face, as if she was prodding for...Oh god. Oh hell no. Did we...did we have sex? No way. No fucking way. No. I refuse to believe that. Shit. We did. We had sex and I don't remember it. What kind of cruel joke is this? Most importantly, how did I perform? I hope I was good...I think so. I mean, I know where it goes. Couldn't be that hard. I think my look of panic and inner struggle was more than enough satisfaction for her as she started busting out laughing, "I'm sorry," she said between gasps of air, "I had to see your reaction."

"Bitch move!" I shot her the most evil glare I could, but it was cut short as I had an appointment to keep with the toilet.

She moved up slightly to smack my back as I hacked and heaved what was left of my stomach up. "We didn't do anything sexual, just to clarify," I felt her lie her head down on me, which was kinda awkward because I was still hovering over the toiler.

"Hold up," I swallowed my fear, and I think part of my dinner from last night, "I'm not about to let you cuddle up to me this close to a toilet, I do have some class, you know?"

I stood up as quickly as my body would let me, which, quite frankly, wasn't very fast. As soon as I had my balance, I put out my hand. I helped her up, I was planning on sweeping her off her feet, but I feel like that would be a bad idea. I could see she was still a little woozy from standing up as she grabbed her head. I took her hand and, as I turned around, put it on my shoulder, "Hop on."

She smiled and blushed, it was quite cute, as she slowly hopped onto my back, classic piggyback. We eventually made it to the bed, she quickly burrowed her way under the covers while I just sat on the side of the bed. After a few minutes of silence she popped her head out from under the covers, "Or don't join me..."

I looked over at her, she looked completely adorable wrapped up in the covers. I couldn't help but smile at her. She smiled right back at me, it was nice, besides the whole hangover thing. "Come on!" She flipped open the blankets, revealing...well, everything.

I couldn't help but blush at the sight, her body was quite marvelous. Perfect. She noticed me looking at her, she looked down at herself, then back up at me, "Good?"

I couldn't help but laugh and smack my face, she grabbed my hand and pulled me down to her. She threw the covers over us, then cuddled up next to me. It was nice, warm, comforting. Her head was resting on my chest as I closed my eyes, just enjoying the moment, and trying not to over think the whole situation. "What was your nightmare about?"

Quite literally the last thing I wanted to talk about right now, but I guess I gotta tell her. I explained the entire dream to her, just like when I explained my quest, I left out no detail. She didn't move the entire time, I assumed she was listening. She nuzzled into my chest a bit after the end of the story, I guess thinking about her response, "I think you should go back."

I was a little puzzled about what she was talking about, "What do you mean?"

"Go on that quest again," she sat up a little bit, enough so that she could look at me, "It's tearing you up inside. I can see it. You can't stand to lose, Nick."

I let out a sigh, "It was impossible anyway."

"You know that's not true."

"He quite literally said they were immortal."

"Maybe he was just testing you," she blinked at me, waiting for me to admit defeat. Look at us, holding a conversation while we are half naked.

"Maybe..." I saw a smile starting to sneak out, "I hope I don't have to climb that fucking mountain again…."

She let the smile creep completely out, "Well. No matter what, you know we got your back."

"I know," I smiled back at her.

We spent most of the morning like that, probably a good three hours. Just lying there, talking to each other about random things. We talked about growing up, parents, school, all sorts of embarrassing stuff. I actually didn't mind, which is kind of a big deal for me. It was nice being able to talk about feelings and what not; of course, we didn't dare touch how we felt about each other. All good things must come to an end unfortunately. "Love birds…." the muffled voice of Tyler could be heard through the door. A couple of knocks followed, "Earth to love birds..."

"Fuck off!" Jen barked as she threw the covers over her face.

"I guess you don't want breakfast!" Tyler hollered back.

"I am kind of hungry..." I said almost shameful, was I really giving up cuddling with a half naked chick for...food? Wow.

She threw the covers off both of us, "Fine!"

The warm cup of coffee in my hand was a much needed boost after everything. We were all sitting at the kitchen table as we ate breakfast. By all of us I mean Tyler, Jen, and me, of course. The other two guys I met last night were sprawled out in the living room, and that chick was, well, I didn't really know what happened to her. The kitchen table was a nice round one, holding plenty of food that Tyler made. I really didn't expect him to know how to cook, let alone be functional enough to cook after last night. After getting a couple cups of coffee in me and a few pieces of toast, I was dying to take a shower. Literally, dying. My hair was a little greasy, as it usually gets after a day or so, and the odor of alcohol was just...everywhere.

"So how did last night go for you two lovers?" Tyler had actually avoided teasing after we joined him for breakfast. I guess he saw our current shape and knew we would need some time to recover before teasing could resume.

"Quite fabulous, I've never been more sore in my life," Jen smacked my arm, "Be gentler next time," she then winked at me.

I, knowing now that she was kidding, hid behind my coffee cup the best I could because the thought still brought a blush to my face. Tyler just stared at Jen, she stared back at him. It was like a stand off; he was trying to call her bluff, where she was trying to keep a strong pokerface. Here I was, sipping my coffee, excluding myself. After a few moments Tyler gave a mocking impressed face, "So Nick," I looked up at him, I was trying to avoid eye contact, "Did you conquer the three kingdoms, or what?"

Yeah, I spit out my coffee. Like, all over the place. Jen and Tyler just started busting up laughing, I didn't find it very funny since I had coffee shooting out of my nose. "He gave you away, you know," Tyler pointed at me as he took a bite of toast, "well played, though."

"You need to work on that pokerface," she sipped her coffee and looked at me as I cleaned everything up.

"I wasn't expecting it!"

That's pretty much how the rest of breakfast went. Joking, laughing, liquid being shot out of noses, it was great. Afterwards I finally got my shower, to which I kind of hoped to get an unexpected visitor, but that was wishful thinking. Before I knew it, it was already time to head home. I walked out on the front porch to find Jen sitting on the front steps, on her phone, from the sound of it it was with her parents. "Yeah, dad, I'll be safe...Yeah, I'll be home later...Don't worry so much!"

She turned around and smiled as she saw me approach her, I sat down next to her just as the conversation ended. "Do your parents worry a lot about you?" She asked putting her phone away.

"I had ten texts from my parents this morning," I looked at her, trying to look annoyed.

She laughed, "Yeah, you win."

"I wish we didn't have to leave so soon."

I could sense her looking at me, but I decided it was best just to keep looking out into the front yard. Winter had really taken its toll on the poor grass, not to mention their tree. "I could probably convince my dad to let me stay another day..." I looked over at her, she was looking down now, "but I don't really want it to be... _here_..."

She was kicking her foot a little bit, I picked up a while back that that was one of her nervous habits. I didn't see it very often, in fact, I only saw it a few times before now. Was she implying that she wanted to stay with...me? Why do I feel like our relationship went from friends to awkward crushes in like one night? It was a weird, sinking feeling, honestly. I wanted to think that is what she was thinking, but I didn't want to say it and sound stupid. "I mean...I got a couch," wow did I really just fucking say that? That was literally the stupidest thing I could say there.

Jen looked at me with a face that was a little taken back, she didn't know whether that was a joke or if I was being serious. She let out an awkward, half smirk, "Well I wouldn't sleep on the couch..."

I was getting incredibly nervous, I could feel my heart starting to pound out of my chest. Either I was sweating, or the earth suddenly heated up about thirty degrees. I let out a half-hearted chuckle, I meant to follow it up with words, but I couldn't find any. What do I do in a situation like this? I have no idea. Suddenly she rolled her eyes at me and stood up, "for fuck's sake Nick, just ask me!"

I guess now I know exactly what is on her mind. Of course, now I was taken back by the sudden burst of hostility. You gotta love that about her. My shocked expression quickly turned into a chuckle, "I mean...you could stay at my house tonight if you want.." I tried my best to sound confident. It didn't work.

"If I want?" She leaned over, forcing eye contact. She had since cleaned up the scary make-up disaster from this morning, her eyes were popping as beautiful as ever.

"I would like you to," I corrected myself.

"Good!" She sounded satisfied as she popped her phone out again and walked out into the front yard, I assume to call her parents.

Now here we are, I just pulled into my driveway. I had let my parents know that I was going to be home, and I'd have a plus one, but I didn't let them know who. I tried to gather myself as I got out of the car, of course I started to freak out after I grabbed my bag and saw Jen walking up my driveway. It was no use, the cold winter air disclosed my uneasy breathing. She gave me a "really" look as she walked up to me, "You're freaking out, aren't you?"

"Little bit…my family can be kind of...you know..." My eyes were going all over the place as I tried to find words.

"Stop worrying so much," she slapped my chest, then paused, "Is this your first time bringing a girl home to your parents?" My hesitation was more than enough reason to cause her to bust out laughing. She almost fell over she was laughing so hard.

"Thanks..." I said as sarcastic as I could as I walked up the driveway and onto the patio. It was at this moment I could hear my parents just on the other side of the wall, in our living room, making quite a ruckus.

"Just act normal! Don't say anything to embarrass him!" My mom's muffled voice could be heard through the wall.

"I just hope its a girl, I'm starting to worry about him."

"We'll support him no matter what!"

My hand smacked my face involuntarily. I didn't even see Jen slowly walk up and start listening to my parent's conversation as well, a smile trickled across her face. "Don't say a word," I glared at her as I opened the door and greeted my parents.

"How was the drive, son?" My dad was trying his best to behave himself as his eye caught who was walking in behind me.

"It was fine," I kicked off my shoes.

"Hi..." Jen's voice was higher pitched then normal as she made a hand waving motion.

"Hello there," my mother was trying to hide her excitement, not very well, over in her corner of the couch.

"This is Jen, my friend from school."

"I'm sorry we weren't expecting a girl," my dad decided to throw that one out there, "this is a first for us."

Jen started chuckling as my mom tried to throw something at my dad, I motioned for Jen to follow me as I headed down the hallway to my room. I was just about in my room when I heard my mom say, "and they are going straight to the room!"

"So, that's my parents," I threw my bag on my bed, "and this is my room."

"Hm," she threw her bag onto the floor, "it's a lot less nerdy than I thought it would be."

"Thanks.." I gave her a blank glare.

She sat down on the end of my bed, then laid back, stretching out, "I would of thought you would of at least had some nerdy posters or something."

I gave her a half hearted chuckle. She was right though, my room was really...bare. The walls were painted a sort of light grey, so colorful, right? There was nothing on the walls, does a window count? The only décor I had was my computer desk, dresser, and tv. It was pretty sad really. You know, now that I think about it, why haven't I done anything with my room? "You sure are deep in thought, aren't you?"

I snapped out of my bubble as I looked down at Jen, she was lying down on my bed, hands behind her head, just looking at me. Gosh she looks so amazing. The sudden realization of the sleeping arrangement poured into my head, immediately putting a blush on my face. "Pervert!" She threw a pillow at me, hitting me smack in the face.

"Hey! What was that for?!"

"I saw that look on your face!" she covered her chest with her arms, acting like she was exposed, "You were totally thinking about me naked!"

"I was not!"

"Yes you were!" She threw another pillow at me. Instinct took over this time as I tried to dodge with a backwards step, I totally forgot about her bag being on the floor. A trip and a tumble later and my head banged against the wall with a loud thud.

"Oh my god!" She shot off my bed, grabbing my head with her arms while on her knees. She yanked my head down pretty hard, pretty sure that hurt more than the actual impact.

"Calm down, it's not that-"

"Shut up, you're bleeding!"

"I'm-" I took note at this point that the current position we were in gave me the ultimate shot at her cleavage. It was just...there. All of it. It was a nice view, "...on second thought things are a little fuzzy, can you see where the bleeding is coming from?"

"Well it looks like it's just right here," her hands running through my hair was intoxicating, I almost was put to sleep right there! "Are you feeling faint at all? Maybe you have a concussion? Maybe we should take..." I didn't really notice that she had pulled away from my head a little bit, I was still goggling all over the view. SMACK! "You asshole! Pervert!"

"Well son, I thought I taught you well," my dad said as I sat on the couch with an ice pack on my head and red hand print outlined on my face.

"Don't-"

"Cleavage is like the sun..."

"Oh god..."

"...It's pretty. We all know this. Every man likes to look at it, it's okay if you look at it for a second, but you never stare. You look, get your second of glory, and get out."

"Is that right?" my mom came around the corner, "You hungry, Nicholas? We have leftovers."

"Nah, I'm good."

"And?..."

"And what?" I turned around to see my mother giving me a stern look. She then started nudging her head toward my room, Jen had gone in there to change. "I don't follow..."

"Wow son, you really are an idiot," my dad said as my mom went and knocked on the door, asking if she wanted anything.

"Oh...Well if I hadn't of suffered such severe injuries..."

"Dumbass," my dad chuckled at me.

"Yeah Nick, so rude!" Jen had come around the love seat and gave me a play mad face. She had stolen one of my shirts out of my closet, without asking I might add, and thrown on some sweatpants. Man, even when she dresses down she looks amazing.

"Isn't that my shirt?" I asked as she sat down next to me.

"I liked it, I'm sure you won't mind," she gave me a nudge.

"So, Jen, what's a nice girl like you hanging around a guy like...him?" My dad pointed at me.

"Thanks dad..."

Jen chuckled, "well it started off with him being my tutor. He's really smart and helped me a lot, then we just started hanging out. Us and Tyler."

"Oh that's nice, we always knew he was a bit of a nerd, but we certainly never expected him to bring a girl home. I mean you should have seen him..." and so the rambling about every experience of my life went on. I just sat there as they talked about every detail, and I mean every detail. It was even better when my mom joined in, talk about fantastic. I kind of wish the wall would have had a spike on it to end my misery. Jen was all for it, she was way too into the conversation. Laughing way too much and nudging me quite a bit as well. Great...this is how our night is going to go...

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A/N: Well wasn't this chapter all romantic and stuffs. Well, besides the puking. I hope you guys are enjoying the series. I apologize as my updating will get less regular as I am starting my first full time job out of college. It's been a ride. I'll update as often as I can. Thanks again!


	10. Elementalist

Steady. Calm. Precise. I can do this. I will not stand defeat. I know there is a way to win, I just have to believe there is. My blades were steady, my heart was calm, and my attacks will be precise. My grip tightened on my blades. I took one last deep breath, taking in all that has happened; every stress, worry, concern, and with one big exhale, I opened my eyes to face my destiny.

There they stood, as daunting as ever. The two creatures that are supposedly immortal; the creatures that brought out the doubt in my heart in our last meeting. I was not going to lose to them again. They stood tall, they had no expression, but the air in the room said all too well what this battle meant. This was serious. I was not going down lightly. Their blades glimmered in whatever light was illuminating us. The old man was standing on some sort of upper level, looking down at us in the circular arena. I took my stance, crouching down slightly and digging my feet into the ground for better leverage. They sensed the fight to come, they too, took their fighting stances.

I am fast. I know that. They are fast too, but I can beat them. They're bulky bodies won't be able to move as fast as me. I was too arrogant to see that in our last meeting, but I'm different now. A glimmer started forming on the edge of my blades as I prepared to activate a speed skill. I will overpower them. I will defeat them. "Prepare yourself," I whispered into the room. It was so quiet even my whisper held onto the air for quite some time. "Here I come!" I screamed as I pushed all my energy into a full frontal burst toward them.

 _~Flashback~_

I laid there on my bed, still going over everything that happened to me tonight. My parents and Jen pretty much had an all you can eat buffet on every embarrassing moment I ever had in my life. I was still on top of the covers, I had taken my shirt off, but then decided to plop down on the bed. I was thinking about what all of this meant, I couldn't help it. How has our relationship progressed this rapidly in such a short time? Or...was I just some sort of fling so she didn't feel alone? I rested my arm over my eyes and gave out a deep breath, stop over thinking it you idiot.

"Over thinking things again, are we?" I slightly moved my arm to see Jen closing the door to my room as she entered.

I didn't answer her, I gave out a half smirk as I laid there. I recovered my eyes with my arm, I knew she was staring at me still, but I didn't feel like playing that game right now. Right now, I just want to refrain from saying anything stupid. I'm glad I was covering my eyes so she couldn't see them shoot open with shock as I felt her weight plop down on my waist. I moved my arm to see her looking at me, as I assumed she would be, then my eyes quickly raced down her body to assess the situation. She had pretty much straddled me, sitting down and letting her weight fall on around my waist. "What's going through that mind of yours?" she asked.

"Just things...and stuff..." I tried not to smile, but let a smirk sneak out.

"Let me guess...first time having a girl on your lap?" she leaned forward so I saw her face instead of the ceiling.

"Perhaps..." I looked to the side, I knew it bothered her when I avoided eye contact.

Her counter was to flop right next to me, I laughed at she plopped on the bed. She smiled back, as she often does when she isn't giving me a hard time. "C'mon, lets go to bed! I'm wiped out!" She smacked my chest, then rolled off the bed to rummage through her bag, which was still on the floor.

"Must be exhausting talking about my life, huh?" I teased as I pulled back the covers. Wait a minute, I normally don't wear much when I sleep, but there is no way that is happening. Do I wear my boxers? Or do I keep my pants on? My question was answered as she flipped her shirt off in one swoop, leaving just her bra. Another motion and there went her pants, leaving her just in her underwear.

"I hope you don't mind," she looked teasingly over at me, "don't look over here for a sec!"

My face was blushed as I looked at her. After her order I immediately stared down, not really knowing what she was doing. I peaked over for a second to see her bra coming off, my face had to be beet red now. I quickly squeezed my eyes shut as they were dying to see more. I heard her chuckle, "You can open your eyes now, I'm done."

I looked over at her to see my shirt had taken its place back on her body, then I took note to see the bra, I assume she had been wearing, half inside her bag on the floor. "I just can't stand to sleep in a bra!" she climbed into the bed while I still stood there, uncertain of what to do, "last night killed me having to do it," she then saw my puzzlement, "what do you normally sleep in?"

"Well..." I looked away and scratched the back of my head nervously.

She laughed, then grabbed the covers, pulling them up to her neck, "There is a minimum of at least boxers required to enter the bed!"

I replied with a half hearted chuckle. A big gulp later and I removed my pants, leaving only my boxers. "My my, isn't that a nice view?" Jen winked at me and then laughed.

"Oh shut up, let me in! It's cold!"

I was allowed entry into the glorious warmth of the covers. I got comfortable on my back, as I normally slept. It didn't take long for Jen to grab my hand and throw it around her so she could cuddle up to me. Her head rested against my chest, one arm slung around me, the warmth was certainly welcoming. I felt her nuzzle her head into my chest a couple of times, I guess trying to get comfortable or trying to be cute. "I have a question for you, Nick."

"Shoot."

"Why do you play AO?"

 _~End Flashback~_

"AHHHH!" My screams echoed throughout the entire arena as I slashed and slashed at my enemies. I hadn't been able to land a blow yet, but neither have they. I jumped back to regain my ground, one leaped after me. I side stepped as I caught its swipe attack with my blade and deflected it past me. Momentum was enough to carry it past me as I flew in for the attack on the other. I put together the longest combo I could, slashing and swiping, using my momentum to my advantage. Its defense was amazing, but it was barely keeping up with my attacks.

I threw my strongest right hook slash I could, causing it to have to throw all its power into the block. I planted my foot, pushing off into a spin. Instead of meeting my attack it was now thrusting into midair. This was my chance, it was off balance. To the mere eye it probably looked like I teleported behind it, but it was pure speed. I landed my first blow in the form of a huge upward slash across its back. The creature immediately leaped away from me to join its comrade across the arena. I had drawn first blood.

 _~Flashback~_

Her question still filled the air. I was trying to think about how I could answer such a complicated question, especially in a way that she could understand. She patiently waited for me to try and answer. Dammit, why was it so hard? "I play AO for a couple of reasons," I guess she figured she would go first, "it's more than just a simple game to me. It's an escape from everything that this world has. I can get away from all of the stress. School. Sports. Drama. It's my way of running away I guess..."

I felt her nuzzle her head into my chest again, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. There were more people like me? She continued, "In AO, I can do whatever I want. If I want to travel the world, I can. If I just want to beat the crap out of some monsters to make myself feel better, I can do that too. It's another world. It's a world without the pressure that I have to deal with here..."

I started slowly stroking her hair with my hand, I felt her hand clinch up slightly on my chest. Deep down, she was just like me. I could feel her fear while she spoke, its weird, but true. It's true because I feel the same way. It's scary admitting something to someone when you don't know how they will receive it. "I know exactly how you feel..." I whispered, then took a deep breath, "AO...to me...is a place where I can be myself. Like you said, it's a world that doesn't have the pressure of reality. I can do wonderful things in AO. I can be whatever or whoever I want to be..."

"I guess we aren't so different after all..." she moved her hand over to my arm, then moved down it trying to find my hand. I moved it to meet hers. She pulled my hand onto my chest and held it there, my hand in hers, "I just know how to put up a better act than you. I've come to be expected to be an outgoing, fun girl."

"I kind of like you better like this..." I whispered into the air, I felt her hand squeeze mine a little tighter.

 _~End Flashback~_

"Fuck...that wasn't expected..." I picked myself up off the ground. I had just taken a major, full frontal blow. Their combinations had changed. Stupidly, I didn't adapt fast enough and paid the price. A nice, painful slam into the wall followed by a quarter of my health vanishing. I stood there, nice and marked up from that hit. I half expected them to be on me immediately after falling to the ground, but they weren't. They were still on the other side of the arena, waiting. I let a smile creep across my face as I gripped my blades tight, "you're going to have to do a lot better than that."

I caught the old man on his platform out of the corner of my eye. He has been studying me rather intensely this entire fight. His plain, generic face gave no hints to what was going on inside. I took my stance, "Come on!" my scream echoed through the arena. They heeded my call. Both of the creatures burst at me full speed, one a few paces in front of the other. The first one was charging up a massive horizontal slash, moments before it was upon me I pushed off with all of my power. It was like slow motion as I twisted in mid-air, its blade slicing through the air underneath me. It was completely exposed to my attack, my blade was going for its target as fast as I could move it. Rather expectedly, the second creature came into view. It's speed matched my own as its blade clashed with mine, guarding his partner from my epic strike.

Its power greatly outweighed mine, as it finished its follow-through of the deflection, I was sent flying away from them. I landed on my feet and immediately dashed again toward my enemies. We locked in an epic clash of combos. The slight speed advantage I have was canceled out by my enemy's incredible teamwork. Every time I had a beat on one the other came in for the rescue. My mind couldn't keep up with the amount of attacks and counters I was making. It turned into instinct. If I had to think about it, I was too slow. Here I am, locked in an epic duel with two powerful opponents.

 _~Flashback~_

"Thank you for coming over," I literally couldn't think of anything else to say, "It was nice."

It was already morning, and it was already time for her to leave. We were standing outside, the sun was already shining high in the sky. We had breakfast, talked with my family, and that was about it. We didn't at all mention the conversation we had last night. I wonder how things are going to be from this point on between us. "It was," she turned around and gave me a lovely smile after putting her bag in her car, "maybe I should come over more often!"

"I wouldn't mind," I said as I failed to hide the blush in my face.

"It's so easy to make you all blushy," she slapped my chest lightly, "It's cute," she then grabbed my arms and pulled me into her very suddenly. It took a second for me to recover as her arms wrapped tightly around me, I finally snapped out of it and wrapped my arms around her as well. She was squeezing me really tightly, almost so tight as I couldn't breathe. I wouldn't dare tell her that though, that would totally ruin the moment. I'm a man, I can take it!

Now we get to the awkward part, right after the end of the embrace. She looked up at me, and I down at her, we both knew what needed to come next. At least I knew what I wanted to come next, I think she was thinking the same thing, or at least I hope. Instead, we just stared at each other. Neither of us made the move. Really? C'mon...just go in for the kiss, dumb ass. My mind was screaming at me to lean in for it, but my body wouldn't move. I was frozen. I could see her face fade a little as she started to realize I wasn't going to initiate. "I better get going then," she looked away for a second, "I'll let you know when I get home, okay?" she put on a half hearted smile at me before turning around to get into her car.

Fuck it. I grabbed her arm before she got into her car, swung her around, and just went for it. Totally. Fucking. Missed. I kissed just off center of her lips, getting about half lip have cheek. Luckily, she's awesome, and quickly corrected my course and our lips locked at last. I feel like it was the longest kiss we ever had, and I'm pretty sure my parents were peaking through the window at us the whole time. By the time we released, I couldn't hardly remember where I was. It was something special. Now how do I end it, let her just get in her car? Or do I say something? Decisions…

 _~End Flashback~_

"You are fighting well young warrior, I'm impressed," the old man spoke for the first time as I dodged repeated attacks.

"I'm not giving up this time, old man!" I hollered as my attack was blocked, another deflection sending me flying across the arena.

I caught a glimpse of him smirking, "What exactly are you here to accomplish?"

Dodge. Dodge. Attack. Blocked. Dodge. "That is the question isn't it," I let out a chuckle as I slid passed my attackers dodging both of their blows, "Maybe I'm just here for the good fight!"

I wasn't facing him now, but I heard him chuckle. "Your attitude has certainly changed since our last meeting. I was honestly sad to see you give up so soon."

Dodge. Dodge. Attack. My blade sliced through the shoulder area of one of my attacker, making it the first blow I've landed in quite some time. They hit me with a rapid sequence of attacks again, as they usually did to counter me getting any foothold. "Last time I thought I gave it my all. I was so sure that I did," holy shit almost took one to the face, I used the wall as leverage to leap over my attacking enemies, "but it was just an excuse to give up. I was afraid to push myself farther, something I had yet to experience in this world."

We were in the midst of a skirmish whenever the old man's hand movement caught my eye, suddenly the creatures stopped attacking and leaped back away from me. I was in mid-attack at the time, so I nearly fell off balance from the momentum. I looked at both of my attackers, then up at the old man, "What gives, old man?"

"I grew tired of watching a battle that would surely end in your defeat, though it would take quite some time."

"Ha, I'm just getting warmed up," I let out a smirk even though deep down inside I was dead tired.

"I'm enjoying this newfound confidence of yours, but as I said they are-"

"I really don't give a crap if you say they are immortal," his face grew a little disgruntled as he studied my interjection, "Just because I can't beat them doesn't make them immortal."

With a wave of his hand, health and mana bars appeared over the creatures heads. I had to let out a chuckle, otherwise I would probably of burst into tears. They were both full, full as can be. In fact, and I'm probably just going crazy, they looked like they were even boosted. When your health is boosted, it means that you have more health than your actual max health points. This is a temporary effect that some items or magic can give someone, but apparently these things have it permanently. "Do you believe me now?"

I shrugged, "Could just be a health regen."

"Your stubborn, young warrior, but you have heart. Tell me, have you every used magic before?"

"That seems like a very strange question since there is 'no magic' in this game," I had since put away my blades and made air quotes with my fingers when telling him that.

Without warning, ice starting forming in front of the terrace that the old man was standing on. He walked forward onto the ice, not skipping a beat as it formed underneath his step as it formed a staircase down to me. I was in awe at how effortlessly this was happening, not even a wave of a hand. It was just happening. By the time he made it down to me, the ice had all disappeared as if it was never there. "Any questions?" The old man looked into my eyes, smirking like some kind of bad ass.

"No questions, but," I smirked back at the old man, "I want you to teach me everything that you know, old man."

"It is not just a skill you can learn," his gaze never broke with mine, "it takes training."

"Good," his grin grew with my response, "I was hoping it would be a challenge."

The room suddenly filled with light, the creatures I had just been fighting were no where to be found. The room was actually completely empty, ice walls made up the only surroundings. It looked like some kind of ritual area. The ground, I could now see, was stone. Kind of weird inside a mountain. The floor was made up of patterns that filled the entire floor, all glowing a beautiful ice blue. If it were red, I am sure this is some place that people come to sacrifice virgins or some crazy crap.

"I must warn you, taking on the great power of magic can have some affects on your physical body. You body is a vessel, and henceforth it will be marked with the ancient language of Magicka. This is what will allow you to control such a powerful element. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I'll probably get some sick tattoos and stuff, got it," I let out a huge grin at the old man, who was less than please with my sarcastic answer.

"If you are not-"

I raised my hand, "I'm kidding. I know this is serious. I am willing to sacrifice my physical body in order to be able to wield such mystic and powerful magic."

"Alright then," the old man put his hands behind his back as he turned away from me, "let us begin your training at once," I couldn't hold back the excitement as the notification popped up in front of me.

* _New Talent! Elementalist (Ice)*_

That makes sense that it would be a talent, and not a skill. Athalia Online has done many revolutionary things in the gaming world, one of which being the talent system. This system is like a sister to skills, only an older, more bad ass sister. Talents are difficult to earn, some players only earning one their entire span of playing Athalia, at least to this moment. Once your learn a talent, which can happen in any number of ways, it simply means you've unlocked the ability to perform that talent. Using it, however, is another story. Talents take time and focus to learn. They are like an art form that needs mastering. It is something new that the developers are trying to make skill learning more interesting. Maybe one of these days talents will take over skills. Who knows!

I gripped by fist in front of me, all majestic and cool like, "Let's do this."

* * *

A/N: Hey there we go, chapter 9. How about that? I wanted to try something new with the whole flash back and forth thing. let me know if you liked it. Sorry I haven't updated recently, been a little busy. I did start another story, similar to this but more based of Grimgar. If you are interested, go check it out. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter. Nicholas is finally going to be able to learn this unique skill, but will it bring trouble for him? What about his relationship with Jen, is it serious?! I don't even know!


	11. Training

"So the ice elementalist has been chosen?" a stern voice said into the darkness. Was it a room? Was it a cave? Who knows. The area was completely black. Nothing could be seen, no figure recognized.

"Yes," a familiar voice that would match the one of a certain old man.

"You are sure of your decision? He seems awfully unbalanced."

"Thus making him the perfect choice for this experiment, does it not? He has displayed intriguing characteristics. His heart is large."

"Keep in mind the consequences if this goes south. The boy may be consumed by this fantasy world. If that happens...I don't even have to tell you how the world will react."

"Fret not. I will keep a close eye on him. What of the other?"

"A fire elementalist has not been chosen yet."

"Well, best to get a move on, the tournament is a mere two months away."

* * *

"Can you believe it?! I'm so excited!" Tyler's bellowing voice traveled through the hallways of the school where we walked. It was already that time again, back to school. My life now went back to consisting of school, work, and AO. Tyler and I had another development class together, to which we were heading to now. I didn't have any classes with Jen this semester, which disappointed me. In fact, ever since school started a couple weeks ago, neither Tyler nor me had seen much of her. She had talked about the difficulty of her classes this semester...oh well, I wasn't looking that much into it. Damn...I was lost in thought again, Tyler was still eagerly awaiting an answer.

"What are you babbling on about?" I shot a smirk at him, I knew what he was talking about.

"The Battle of Blades!" He made swipes through the air with his hands extended like karate chops, accompanying the motions with the full effect of _swooshes_ and _tings._

"It's still a couple months off yet, which means I need to finish my training as soon as possible." Ever since that old man gave me the unique talent, I've been in training inside that very room. I was getting better, but couldn't even say I was adept at the talent yet. As the old man assured me, my other self's appearance has slowly been changing, no doubt the effect of the talent. The strange markings that were etched all over the room, the ones that resonated ice blue, had slowly been etching their way into my other's skin. Sounds creepy, right? It's not at all painful, if I didn't look I wouldn't have even noticed it. Day by day, they were slowly consuming my body. It might sound crazy, but I swear they were getting brighter and brighter each day as well. Oh well, they look sick. I just hope they refrain from attacking my face…

"Yeah man, how's that goin? It's not the same going on adventures without you and Jen! Quite boring actually," Tyler let out a sigh, the past glory days of all of us hunting together no doubt playing in his head.

"I'm hoping soon, but the talent is difficult. More difficult than anything I've encountered in AO..." I trailed off at the end, lost in thought. My mind, though physically here, was still in AO. Going over the teachings that the old man preached to me every time I visited that other world. Hopefully soon I can master it.

"You'll probably come out a fully fledged bad ass, as if you weren't already!" He gave me a backward slap on the chest as we entered a familiar classroom. The rows of computers the same way as we left them a semester ago. Tyler decided to take the opportunity of a new semester to claim his seat next to mine. I chose the seat I always sit in. I have class in this room way too often.

I flipped out my phone and my heart fluttered to see a text from Jen. She made sure to take my phone and decorate her contact name with all of the proper emojis. You know, typical heart eyes and what not. It made me smile just thinking about it. _'I'm still pissed that I don't have a class with you guys',_ the text read, _'but hope you have a good day. I have practice first thing after. Call me after work?!'_ I couldn't hide the smile on my face. She had signed up for a class the same as Tyler and I, some ethical bogus that we had to take, but she mistakenly chose a different professor. That's right, I have work today as well. I let out a sigh, I wish I could just quit my job. I gave her a short and sweet reply just before the start of class. Hopefully I would actually be taught something this semester. I couldn't help but give out a snicker, to which Tyler looked at me funny.

* * *

"Hey!" Jen gave out an enthusiastic greeting as she answered my phone call, it was a nice cover, but I could hear the fatigue in her voice.

"Hey there, how was your day?" I greeted her, phone on speaker in my lap as I made the all too familiar drive home through the darkness.

"Oh my god it sucked! I have two papers already assigned, due next week. Coach got pissed at Jessica and now..." her rambling trailed off. I didn't mind listening to her, even though I didn't understand half of what she was talking about. It usually consisted of a quarter griping about school work, and the rest about team drama. I had never met any of her teammates, nor did I care to. I never touched the subject, but Jen never really seemed interested in me adventuring into that side of her life. Meh, a nerdy, un-hip guy like me at her side might take away from her cool points. I snickered at my own thought, "Whats so funny, huh?!" Her voice boomed through the tiny little phone speakers.

"Just cracking myself up, that's all."

"Are you logging in tonight?"

"Yeah," I have to at least put in a few hours of training, if I want to get through it, "I want to get done with this training. It's been..." my voice trailed off, I couldn't even tell you why.

"You'll get there," her voice's tone changed to a soothing, comforting pitch, "I know it."

"Thanks...how about you? Starting to think you don't play anymore."

"I wish! I want to so bad! I swear I'm having withdrawals," we both laughed, "...maybe I will be able to this week...well, fuck. We have a double header on Saturday..."

"Maybe Tyler and I will swing by," I half joked. I didn't want it to sound too serious. I really didn't want her to know that I had her basketball schedule memorized. I had scanned it probably a hundred times against my own schedule, trying to find a good time to surprise her. This Saturday was actually perfect, somehow I had that day off.

"Really?" She seemed taken back, which was a little unsettling, "You? Public? You sure you won't die?" I laughed, a hollow laugh as I waited for some sort of answer, "I mean it would be nice if you were there...but I know it's not your thing. You don't have to, but if you guys want to you can...whatever you want to do is fine!"

I wasn't really good at reading these situations. Her tone was all over the place throughout the last sentence. It sounded like she either didn't want me there, and was just trying to find a nice way to put it, or she wanted me there, but didn't want to sound needy. One of two options, one of two ways to feel. On one hand its sweet that she wouldn't want to bother me, as she knows I get uncomfortable in large crowds. On the other, she could not want me there. This was a little risky. We never really displayed any sort of public affection. In fact, I still couldn't even tell you what our situation was.

"I'll have to see..." I put it off. She simply responded with an okay, not hinting in either direction of her feelings.

"I have to get going on this homework before I pass out, call me in the morning?" There it was. That tone. That sound. Every now and again I could hear it in her voice. A sense of yearning. Yearning for me. It was loving, caring. That last bit of her question sounded as if she just wanted to crawl through the phone and cuddle up in my arms. It made me feel warm inside. I gave her a sound "of course" and we said our goodbyes.

* * *

"Concentrate!" The old man's voice pierced through the air with a hiss. He was walking around me. I was kneeling down in the center of the arena, my hands flat on the cold ground. I was giving it all I could, but the exhaustion was catching up to me fast. I kept my mind focused on my goal. The goal of this exercise was precision. I was summoning ice crystals along the floor, tracing the patterns of the etched lines and writings on the ground. All the while the old man walked around me, not to mention his two ice creatures. They were trying their best to distract me, flying around the circle, cutting through the middle taking slashes near me. In fact, one actually grazed my cheek.

The ice circle kept forever expanding, I was far past any point I had ever reached. "There you go, keep it going..." The old man was watching me very intensely, more than usual. It was becoming increasingly difficult as the circle expanded, the mental exhaustion was building up. How can I even describe it? Have you ever tried concentrating on a single point when you are really tired, and you just can't keep your eyes open? That's pretty much it. My mind was being taxed way more than it ever had been in this life or the other. I gritted my teeth in frustration as the expanding circle slowed to a painful crawl. Had I reached my breaking point?

"C'mon..." my teeth were grinding so roughly I swear my real body was mimicking the exact thing. The lines and strange language that had now etched all up and down my arms and hands were glowing brighter than ever.

"Enough," the old man waved his hand as I nearly collapsed on the ground, panting as if I were out of breath.

I found the will to stand up, though my mind was screaming at me to just lie on the ground. "That's farther than I've ever made it before, I feel like I could've gone a litter farther."

He studied my reaction, "It's good to push yourself, young one, but you must also know your limit. Now, let's move on to combat."

I really just wanted to hold up my hand and say I was done for the time being, but I couldn't do that. Even though it was midnight in the other world, even though I had class and work the next day, I wasn't going to stop. I was standing about 10 yards away from the classic target dummy, little circles around the head and chest and all. With a swift flick of my hand toward the target, a gleaming icicle, about the size of my forearm, appeared out of the thin air and hurled itself at the target with blazing speed. It cut through the air, barely effected by the gravity, as it made its way to its target. The razor sharp tip pierced into the target with ease, like a hot knife going through butter.

"Hm, are you tired?" The old man was standing directly behind me a little wide eyed. I actually had never seen him give such a look. It was one that combined shock and surprise, quite interesting to say the least. His remark was due to my icicle piercing not the center of the chest, where I was aiming, but the shoulder off to the right. I had never missed by that much margin before. I shook my head vigorously trying to shake out the tiredness. "We can stop for today if you would like," he glanced a look of concern toward me, to which I coldly shunned, not even offering a glance.

My response was to once again take my fighting stance, I heard a sigh from behind me, but continued. I threw an icicle, missed, followed up with another one, missed. My frustration was boiling now, why the fuck was I missing? I fired more and more icicles, my aim becoming worse and worse as my shots splattered all over the dummy. Soon, my frustration turned to anger, I ferociously threw one last icicle with all of my pinned up rage. This one was a lot more powerful than the rest, and a lot more wild. It completely missed the dummy high, slamming more than halfway into the wall. I was left out of breath and panting, nearly falling over.

"Andddddd your done," the old man spun around, half annoyed, half trying not to laugh at my little temper tantrum.

"No-"

"You are done," he shot me a glare, "You are too tired and frustrated to advance your training any further."

I gritted my teeth even more now, I knew he was right, but I didn't like it. I wanted to progress and master this talent so badly. I wanted to be able to use it freely, though that in itself was something I was torn over. From my conversations with the old man, I learned that this is, in fact, a unique talent. One of a kind. And I have it. Being that this is an MMORPG, that puts a huge target on my back. If the other players learn of my unique talent, they are going to want one of two things usually: to party up with me, or fight me. Who wouldn't want to be the guy that beat the one with a unique talent? That just would raise their own rank in the system, or at least their street cred.

* * *

There I was, lying in my bed, unable to sleep. All I could think about was AO. I wanted to log back in and continue training. I reached my hand outward toward the ceiling, grasping at the air, making a fist. It was a weird feeling. Coming back to the real world always made me feel...weak. I must be gaining more power than I thought in the other world. Sometimes I would look down at my hand in class and be shocked to see there were no etchings in my skin. I let out a big sigh.

So far I had become efficient in a couple of skills that came along with my newfound talent. There was the skill ice spear, which I usually referred to as icicle, since I literally materialized a sharpened icicle. It was a mid-range attack, I was able to propel it forward. The speed is that of about an arrow shot from an average bow, but packed more punch and a slowing effect. If I could become more efficient in that skill, I could increase the speed and overall damage of the attack. Not to mention increase its special effect.

The other skill was more my style, ice dagger. Well, that's the nickname I gave it. It's real name was materialization, I believe. It does what you think, it allows me to materialize a weapon, which comes in handy. Of course, my materialization of choice was a dagger, just like the weapon I have now. Currently I could only materialize one, which sucked, and it was about as powerful as a mid-level blade. Like the other skill, the more I powered it up the better quality of the materialized weapon. At the moment it would shatter after a few minutes of fighting. I need to get better. I need to be able to generate two exceptional daggers. I let out another heavy sigh, "what the hell..." I whispered to myself.

"I wonder if I will be ready by the time the tournament starts..." I said to myself, as if waiting for an answer. I had secretly been studying up on the tournament for a while now. Of course, I would never let anyone else know that, especially Tyler. It had come up in casual conversation between us, and we always said it would be cool to join. I don't know about him, or Jen for that matter, but I was definitely going to enter. I entered last year, but got my ass kicked and knocked out in the first round. I was a lot weaker back then, so I'm sure that I could make it passed a few rounds this time around.

* * *

A/N: Hey there! Has it really been 10 chapters already? Well, 11 if you count the prologue. Man, thanks all for the support! This chapter is a little shorter than the usual, but it serves a good point. The introduction of the main even: Battle of Blades! Not to mention the interesting truth behind the creation of a unique talent remains a mystery. Just what does the old fart have planned for our Nicholas? Next chapter will mostly focus on Nicholas progressing his training even further, but as he grows more and more powerful in the virtual world, will he lose his grip on reality?

See ya next time!


	12. Jen, The Juggler

I pressed all of the air out of my lungs as I exhaled, clearing my mind. Nothing would interfere with my focus. I held my arm outstretched fully in front of me, my hand making a gripping motion as if there was an invisible object there that I was holding. I opened my eyes with a fierce glance at my hand, like one of those scenes out of the action movies where the guy is about to do something cool as fuck.

A faint, light blue light started tracing out an object within the grasp of my hand. It moved quickly, like the object was being printed out of thin air. The outline was instantly recognizable; a knife. The blade curved back in a slight manor, just as I pictured it in my mind. Within a few seconds, it was fully materialized. A majestic looking, light blue blade that looked and felt as if it could slice through anything. The color slowly grew deeper as the eye went from the side of the blade to the back. It was like a beautifully rendered gradient that had been pasted on an object. The inner designer in me awed at the beauty; the tip of the blade was so light that it almost looked white. It shined and sparkled despite being in the darkness of the training room. This was the first time I had materialized a knife that looked so perfect.

I closed my eyes again, crouching slightly into my fighting stance, my newly formed knife my weapon of choice. I let out another big exhale, then burst toward the attack dummy as fast as I could. As soon as my foot was planted in front of it, I unleashed a furry of swipes. I jumped all around, practicing my dodges and agility moves while combining them with offensive slashes and stabs. By the time I finished, I was out of breath. I am not sure how long the assault lasted, but I cursed myself under my heavy breathing, telling myself I could've...no, I should've...gone longer. I gritted my teeth, angry with myself. I leaped away from the target and took my stance again. "Better this time..." I whispered to myself, then unleashed my attack once more.

* * *

Days blurred together. I couldn't tell you how much I slept, but you could probably count the number of hours on one hand. School, work, AO. Never in my years of playing AO had I ever been putting in such effort, but it was paying off. I could feel it. It was like having a mental breakthrough. My hours upon hours of piled up training was starting to take effect. My confidence in my skill was rising. It was like someone turned on a light. As soon as I graced the world of AO, I felt the power running through my veins. Unfortunately, coming back to the real world was starting to make me feel...weak. I felt brittle. I had started dropping some hints to Tyler that we should start working out together. Ever since he found out that skill translates through the game, he started having a regular work out.

Whenever he asked about my skills, I would always avoid it. Truth be told, I have no idea how my other's skills are so great. I am not at all fast in the real world, yet my other's speed is incredible. Sure, I have a nice, beefed up agility stat, but still. It was weird. I didn't feel as though I had a good reaction time in the real world, but I never was really put in a situation to test it, I guess. It was a mystery to me how I could be so powerful and confident in the virtual world, but feel the complete opposite in the real world. I often wondered to myself what it would be like to get into a real fight, would the training in AO translate over? That would be a sight, some nerdy kid busting out some sick ninja moves.

If it weren't for the alarm on my phone, I would've completely forgotten about my plans today. My phone's alarms were set up to sync up to my in-game alarms, meaning if my phone alarm went off and I was in AO, I would get a notification. It was Saturday, the day that I decided that I would go to Jen's basketball game. Of course, I had told Tyler he was coming to, who agreed without hesitation. I'm sure he was feeling the same as me, the sense of yearning for our group to be back together and hang out like we once did. It was either that, or he knew that athletic girls were nice to look at. He would say it's the latter, but I knew it was the former.

I stared at my face in the mirror of the bathroom, air thick with steam after a hot shower. I figured I had better take a shower after being logged into AO practically all night. I needed a pick me up, and I smelled weird. My eyes met that of their reflection in the mirror. I looked over my not so impressive body, running my hand over my stomach area, not pleased. I was by no means obese, or even fat. I was quite skinny, but the small amount of fat forming around my stomach and lack of muscle displeased me. I looked away from the mirror, looking down at as I flexed my forearm by opening and closing my hand. I was so used to seeing the lean, muscular shape of my other's arm that my real one almost felt unfamiliar. I let out a sigh, man, I was really becoming a depressing person lately.

I threw on a nice, deep red colored sweater. It was a great color, one of my favorites. It wasn't a bulky, preppy looking sweater. The material was very soft, almost stretchy, and it was thin as far as winter clothing goes. A nice pair of jeans later and I was ready, well after a few squirts of cologne so that I smelled nice. I grabbed my backpack that I had packed the night before and slung it over my shoulder. I looked back at the device that connected me to the other world. It wasn't anything special, a simple, metallic grey head band with a semi-transparent, tinted screen in the front. It fit around your head, just covering your eyes with the screen. Two cables were connected into one side of the device, one was the power supply and the other for internet connection. I like being hard wired in, it was more reliable. I was looking at it because I debated on whether or not to bring it. I shook my head and walked out the door without it.

"Where you off to, son?" My dad was in his familiar spot on the couch.

"Gonna catch a school basketball game with Tyler, then staying over at his place." I replied making my way to the fridge. After grabbing myself a nice, cold water I walked back into the living room toward the front door, "Be back some time tomorrow."

"Tell Jen we said hi," My dad smirked at me, he knew, I don't know how, but he did.

"Will do," I smirked and shook my head as I made my way out of the door.

* * *

Man, it was even more crowded than I expected. The overwhelming sights, sounds, and smells assaulted my senses as we entered the packed gym. Who knew that our school's basketball team drew this kind of support, especially since it was the latter game of a double header. The echoing chant of either team's students and cheerleaders rung throughout the gym. In between, you could here the obnoxious mingle of every person's conversation intertwining in the air, giving off a headache of noise. Thanks to Tyler, we were late. The game was already well under way by the time we squeezed our way up to the top row of the bleachers. I kept my head down the whole way up the steps, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone. That was one of my worst fears in public, the awkardness almost killed me once, I swear.

I glanced up as soon as I saw Tyler plop down on the incredibly uncomfortable bleachers, seriously, did they design these things to kill your ass on purpose? Is this some sort of test of support, c'mon! Tyler wasn't wearing anything all that special either, typical winter wear. My sweater was a one up from his casual wear, at least in my opinion. I didn't know much about basketball, so I just sat there quietly and watched Jen run up and down the court. Is it a court? Yeah, it's a court. Though at some points it was almost painful how many misses both teams racked up in a row, I mean, Tyler and I probably could've made some of those...Yeah, probably not.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Tyler asked, chin resting upon his hand in a show of pure boredom, but he's a trooper, he's hanging in there.

"I was leaving that to you..." I said softly as I watched Jen's beautiful backwards jog that came to a halt on her side of the court after making a basket. I swear I looked like that heart eyed emoji at that moment, the look I caught from Tyler out of the corner of my eye was of pure disgust. Quite funny actually.

"Of course you are," he smacked me on the back, "There are definitely going to be some parties tonight, guess I'll have to work my magic and see if we can get in one of them!" He gave me a sly grin and a thumbs up.

"Oh joy..." I couldn't of said that more sarcastically if I tried.

It took quite a while, but the game finally ended. While we joined the crowds of people exiting the bleachers, Tyler went on ahead to "figure things out.". Leaving me, by myself, in a crowd...great. I decided to make my way to the front of the gym, there I would wait for someone to come get me. That was my go to plan for social events, stand somewhere out of the way and just wait for someone I know to come get me. It's quite sad really, but hey, it's not like I can just strike up a conversation with a stranger, that's just not me.

I waited out front for a good ten minutes, I figured I better let Jen know I'm here, so I sent her a text. I mean, it is kind of a surprise, I better actually let her know that I'm here. She probably wouldn't get it for a while though. I hope that she is excited that I came. Hopefully it doesn't come off as clingy. Oh god, what if it does come off as clingy? What if I'm intruding on her space? Dammit. I let out a big sigh, I knew I was over thinking things again. Where the hell is Tyler? Jeez.

Just then, my text buzzed. Surprisingly enough, it was Jen. _'Wow, you came! Sorry, but I'm not going to be able to get out of here for a little while...then I had plans with friends to go to a house party at Jon's tonight.'_

Not going to lie, my heart sank a little bit. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with what she said, but it just seems as if it lacked feeling. There was nothing in it that even felt like she wanted to see me. I read the text over and over, probably a hundred times. Obviously, my famous over thinking brain started going off. Every little thing that my brain could think of sent pings of hurt down to my heart, it really is a bitch of a bad habit.

"Looking pretty gloomy there, dude," I didn't even notice Tyler had walked up next to me, he gave me a smile, "ready to party tonight?"

"Huh?" It was like I was snapping out of a trance, I heard what he said, but that was the only reply I could muster up.

He gave me a puzzled look, then decided to enlighten me, "Word is Jon is throwing a huge house party, practically the whole school is going. We can grab Jen and head over there."

"Jen's already going..." I felt like a zombie, I could see puzzlement growing in Tyler's expression so I just showed him the text.

"Hm," Tyler handed my phone back to me, the puzzled look on his face seemed to have gotten a little bit worse, which worried me even more. Then, without another moments notice, he shook it off and was gleaming with happiness again, "So we'll just meet her there, dude! She probably set up plans with her friends since she had no idea we were here, no biggie, right?"

"Yeah...I guess," I was trying to catch some of the optimism he was throwing out, but then something else hit me, "Wait...Jon? As in, the guy that always give me shit in our programming class?" I had a feeling this night was not going to be as fun as Tyler was hoping for.

"Relax," he gave me a smack on the shoulder, "It's a party. No one picks fights at parties. Everyone just goes about their business and socializes. It'll be a good time! It's going to be so big, you probably won't even run into him!"

"I don't know..." I was really getting a bad feeling now.

"C'mon!" he dropped to his knees in front of me, begging, "It's going to be huge! Probably the biggest party of the semester!"

"You realize we're nerds, right? We don't party..." I tried to make myself chuckle.

"Please!" He tugged at my sweater, now he was really starting to draw attention to us, "I've been dying for another great night out, like at the club! Ah!" He put his free hand up to the sky, "I can still remember the beating of the bass that night. It was as if it was in beat with my heart!" That doesn't even make sense. "Then you and Jen were there, my best friends, and we drank, boy did we drink! Of course, I couldn't forget the magical lady I picked up that night either, you remember, right?" His eyes twinkled at me rather uncomfortably, like one of those reverse harem, pretty boy shows. I better stop him now before he tries to tell me the story about him picking up that girl again.

"Alright...alright!" I smacked his hand away from my sweater, "we'll go," my words were met by tears of joy from him as he leaped up and embraced me.

"Thanks, dude! You're the best!" I was completely out of breath by the time he let go of me, "but first, let's get some grub!"

I sent a reply to Jen letting her know our plans for the evening, then Tyler and I made our way to the car. As we were walking, I couldn't help but keep constantly checking my phone for a reply. Does she even want me there? Does she want to see me? The questions just kept popping up in my head. I wish they would stop. Just as we were getting into the car, my phone buzzed. I, rather hastily, opened it up to see what she replied. _'Oh. Cool! Guess I'll see you there then!'_

"It'll be fine, dude," Tyler said in between stuffing his face with the burger he ordered. We had decided to just grab some cheap, fast food, and I guess I was still wearing concern on my face.

"If you say so..." I stared down at my barely eaten meal, I was quickly losing my appetite thinking about what might happen tonight.

"Look, it's a party, like I said before," this sounded like the beginning of another lecture, "everyone is just there to have fun, no one picks fights. Chances are you won't even run into him, especially since he's the host, he'll probably be up in a bedroom all night," he winked at me as he finished.

"I'm not necessarily worried about him, in particular," I threw my napkin on my plate, giving up on eating, "It's that I'll be there with people, expected to socialize. That sort of thing makes me very uncomfortable." Hell, even that's a lie. I mean, yes, I'm worried about having to socialize, but my bigger concern was Jen.

"We'll get a couple drinks in you and you'll be fine!" Tyler chugged his water, slamming it down on the table rather obnoxiously, "Besides, you are going to have a hot chick on your arm the whole night, right? That's all you need to be worrying about, and that's a good problem to have!"

"I don't know..." I couldn't help but shake the feeling that Jen didn't want me to show up at this party.

He was giving me quite a serious look now. It was weird, it was like he suddenly came to a screeching halt. "You are worried about her, aren't you?"

"What are you talking about?..." I mumbled and looked away, a foolish attempt to hide my feelings.

"You don't think that I notice, but I do," I looked up at him, "when we are all walking around school together, it frustrates me to all hell to see that you two want to show affection for one another, but you both are too scared to. I mean, you can clearly tell you want to, just do it! Do I need to pull up that Shia Labeouf clip?"

I let out a half-hearted chuckle, "I feel like she's afraid of what people will think." Wow, I actually said it. That was one of my biggest fears. I know, in my heart, that she cares for me; however, I'm afraid that she will choose her friends, her way of life, over me. In a way it's quite selfish, I shouldn't be worried about what or who she is going to choose, it shouldn't be a choice. She shouldn't have to choose...but why does it feel like a choice?

"You both are..." he was now staring out the window, it had started to sprinkle now. Little droplets of water were making their way down the clear glass, the smell of rain was clashing with that of cheap, greasy burgers. "Straight up," he still wasn't looking at me, "It scares me that you two will let other people dictate how you act toward each other."

When the hell did he get this deep? This is so unlike him. He was never serious. Like, ever. He was always one to crack a joke whenever something was too serious to lighten up the mood. Seeing him like this was just weird. He must really have thought about it a lot if he is this worried about it. He's right, though. I didn't notice. I had no idea what affect Jen and I's relationship would have on him. I was too worried about how it was going to affect me.

"I don't want to fuck up." I said softly.

"It's not you I'm worried about," hearing him say it, out loud, I could feel a dagger piercing through my heart. "Hell man, maybe I'm just over thinking it as much as you are, I mean, I don't know your relationship," he was fidgeting in his chair, I've never seen him this uncomfortable, "but I get the feeling that she is juggling."

"Juggling?" I was looking straight at him, though he wouldn't make eye contact, I knew what he meant, I just wanted him to say it.

He held out his left hand, "In the left hand she has you," he then held out his right hand, "in the right hand she has her _popular_ friends, her _popular_ girl look, you know, the bullshit expectation that others put on her, and that she tries her best to maintain. Instead of being herself, she puts up an act. It's weird, listening to her around us, and listening to her around others, it's like two different people."

"I know what you mean..." I couldn't help but flashback to the conversation her and I had about this very thing. Honestly, up until now, it's all seemed like a fantasy. I tried my best not to over think the situation. I tried and tried not to get attached, but my heart just seems to be drawn to her. I can only hope that she feels the same way, and that she is not going to let it go because of some social pressure.

"Man!" Tyler was trying to shake off the depressing conversation, "We really need to get excited for this party. C'mon, let's get out of the dumpsters and leap into the stars!"

I gave him another half chuckle and a grin, but my mind wouldn't let go of the conversation we just had. I just couldn't. I had held it off for so long. I wanted to ask her. I wanted to know. What is she feeling? What are we? Do I need to put myself through so much turmoil, or is it all for not? Of course, the most fearful question of all I have for her is...do I embarrass her? Is she ashamed to like someone like me? I felt a rage of emotion flooding over me, it hit me like a hammer. All of these questions, I wanted answers.

That was when a hand appeared on my shoulder, I looked up to see Tyler standing next to me. "It's going to be alright, bud," his eyes were full of compassion, "I know it makes you feel sick to your stomach. I know how much it can hurt, but right now, we are in this moment. We are living life. We have to make the most of it. Whether its partying here, or having fun in Athalia, it's up to us to make our lives fun and happy. Besides," he gave me a smirk, "you don't have time to sulk, you have to be my killer wingman," he gave me a thumbs up.

Though the questions and doubts inside my head wouldn't stop as I followed Tyler out of the door and to the car, I now know what having a true friend is like. He understands what I'm going through, and he's going to help in any way he can. At least now I know, no matter what I face, I don't have to face it alone.

* * *

A/N: Hey there, been a little while. Is some crazy stuff going to go down at this party? Is Jen really "Juggling"? Is juggling even a real term used today? Probably not, but oh well! Thanks for reading!


	13. The Party

My body was aching all over. The numbing effects of the alcohol in my system was wearing off, leaving me with the pain of my mistakes. I rotated my shoulders a few times to try and loosen up the tight feeling that was swiftly overtaking them. I stretched out my back as well, hoping it would relieve some of the pain. After realizing I was making it worse, I stopped. I stood there, leaning over that sketchy rail looking out onto the town, a car passing by every now and again. It was quite peaceful. A drastic change from what my night had become just a few hours earlier.

I looked down at my hands, my fingers so stiff and full of pain that I could barely move them. I slowly rolled my hands over to reveal my knuckles, covered in dried blood. Several cuts lined along my knuckles, no doubt the source of the blood. How could I let myself get so carried away? How could I let myself get so angry? I stared at the blood. What did any of this accomplish? I rolled my fingers in my right hand slowly into my palm, making a fist. The action was just enough to slightly open some of the barely healed cuts.

"You alright, man?" I heard Tyler's voice behind me. I turned to see my friend, my best friend, standing there, nothing but worry spread across his face, well, and an ice pack. He was holding it over the left side of his swollen chin. I was at his place, well out on the balcony of his place to be precise. It was an apartment complex not too far away from school. I then noticed his outstretched hand, offering me the comfort of a bag of frozen peas. I graciously accepting its soothing chill.

"Yeah..." it hurt to even slightly move my jaw. I couldn't even imagine how swollen it was. I held the bag of frozen peas up to it, instantly finding some relief.

"If I had known it was going to end up like this, I would've gotten more ice packs," He said softly, it must hurt for him to talk to. He took the ice pack away from his chin for a moment to adjust it. The swelling from his chin reached all the way to his cheek, he looked like a little chipmunk. The flush redness of his normally pale skin showed how irritated it was.

I really didn't want to even acknowledge his statement, because if I did, it would just end up flaring up my feelings again. I looked at him, my friend, and the pain he was willfully bearing all because of me. It tore me up inside. I've always gone through things like this alone. At the time I would think it's the end of the world, and sometimes I'd even wish that someone would help. But, in the end, I was always glad I was alone. Since I was alone, I didn't have to bother anyone. I didn't have to worry if the person I was leaning on could take the weight. I didn't have to worry about if they were going to stick around. I can handle my pain. I know that I'll do what I have to do to get through it. I just don't know how to help him. How do I make sure that he is going to get through it? What if he doesn't?

"I'm...sorry..." I could feel tears forming in my eyes, "...it's all my fault..."

"Shut up," He said, looking over at my teary eyes, "I could've left your ass for dead, but I didn't. I made a choice. It was my decision. So don't apologize. I'd rather take the pain with you, than abandon you."

The sincerity in his voice. The warmth of his eyes as he looked at me. This was what having a friend truly meant. There was no holding back now. My tears poured out of me like a water fountain. I couldn't stop the sobbing either. I looked like a child, I felt like a child. I felt his hand rest on my shoulder, as if to reassure me that he was actually there. I was truly grateful that he was here with me, but even so, it couldn't cover up my terrible pain. As much pain as my body was in now, with all its cuts, aches, and bruises, the pain I felt in my heart was something ten times worse. I let it out the only way I knew how, through tears.

* * *

 _~Flashback~_

There we stood. The sun had just barely set below the horizon, and yet, here was a massive party already well under way. It was quite a large house. Silver colored stone made up the outside of it, accented with beautiful white pillars in the front. The porch, which was filled with about ten to fifteen people at the moment, looked as if it could hold at least twice that much. I awed at the beauty of the home, and at how many cars there were all over the freaking yard. They were everywhere. Literally every square inch of the driveway, front yard, and sides of the street in front of the house were packed with cars.

I could hear the sound of music and the conversations of at least a hundred people echoing from that house. I looked over at Tyler, who looked back at me grinning, he was dying to storm in there and join the party. I let out a deep breath, then chuckled as I saw Tyler practically jittering with excitement. "Well, let's go," I finally gave the okay and we started walking toward the house.

It was...different inside. At least, different than what I was expecting. Honestly, I didn't really know what I was expecting. Every room seem to have its own personality. In the living room, everyone was mellow and just chilling. People were relaxing on the couch and love seat, as well as just chilling on the floor. Of course, the thin layer of smoke in the air and the obvious scent of weed might have something to do with that.

The kitchen and dining area took a complete one-eighty. The kitchen was packed with people trying to get drinks from the endless amount of alcohol that was stacked all up and down the counters. The dining room was where the source of the music was, a laptop and a couple of loud speakers in the corner was all it took for the dance party to erupt. Everyone in the room was either bumping and grinding, or at least bobbing to the music as they talked and drank. I guess that's where you are supposed to go if you want to get...close to a person. Everyone in that room seemed to be all over each other. I'm talking zero personal space.

Of course, I can't forget the back patio. Conversations erupted as you walked through the doorway to it. It was like you had been deaf forever and suddenly regained your hearing. Seriously, the mix of talk and chatter could easily overload your ears. This was also the place I noticed a couple of tubes hanging down from the deck that was located immediately above on the second story. After seeing how a couple of guys grabbed them and chugged as a golden yellow liquid was poured down them, I knew they had to be beer bongs, or at least, I hope they are.

That concluded my survey of the surroundings, or at least what I picked up as I followed as closely behind Tyler as I could, desperately trying not to draw attention. As if the polar opposite of me, Tyler seemed right at home, in fact, he even high fived and said whats up to a couple people while we walked around. It was strange. In school I always felt awkward for him since he would always try to start conversations that inevitably failed or he would say something out loud to a dead silent classroom. Yet, here he seemed right at home, easily accepted by the fellow party goers.

Now that I think about it, a lot of people here seem different. For instance, that chick over there, the one with the red hair that has been tied up into a ponytail. She was always so conservative looking at school. She's an honor student, so I figured she just studied all the time, and yet, here she is. Her rather revealing top and short skirt looked nothing like her school appearance. I guess the fact that she is doing a beer bong right now as I'm thinking about this adds to that fact. I guess people are a lot different at these kinds of things, or maybe just outside of school in general. Hm, maybe this won't be so bad.

"How's it going guys?" Tyler budded into a circle of three guys after we managed to get a couple drinks for us. We were both double fisting. I thought it was a little early for that, but Tyler just gave me a smile and told me to have fun and drink.

"Not too bad man, how about yourself?" and just like that, the circle opened up to include both Tyler and I. I wonder if I could've done that. Would I have been able to just walk up to complete strangers and start up a conversation? Even now, I'm not even participating. Why?

"Your that smart kid in our class right," I was snapped out of my daze as the conversation was now pointed in my direction, "What was your name again?..N..Ni..."

"Nick," I finished it for him.

"Yeah man, that's it!" He gave the buddy to his left a nudge, "this dude is sick at programming, you should see the kinds of things he does."

What was this? Everyone in my class hated me...at least, that's the impression I got. Now I'm standing here, getting praised for work that I am usually cussed at for. They continued to talk about me as I just nodded, not really liking the attention. At least the conversation died out soon, and the three parted ways with us in search for more drinks. That's when Tyler turned to me with a smile, "Look at that, you talked like a normal person."

"Yeah, if you can call that talking," I combined my cups after finishing my first drink of the night, and gratefully started my second.

* * *

Over the next few hours, that's pretty much how the party went. Tyler would find a group to instigate a conversation with, and I would join in with him. We talked, well Tyler mostly did, but I did some too, to all sorts of people. Even girls, believe it or not. However, no matter how many people we talked to, my mind was only on one person, and one person alone. That one person still hadn't made an appearance at the party, or at least, I hadn't seen her yet.

I think Tyler could sense my worry, whenever he would glance over and catch my gloomy face, he would wrap his arm around my neck and pull me in, literally, to the conversation. I would always have to end up talking for a few minutes, but I got pretty good at phasing myself out and letting Tyler take back over. It's not like I didn't want to talk to these people, I just didn't know what to say. Even more, I was worried about saying something dumb.

Of course, my mind wasn't going to have to wonder for that much longer, since she just walked through the door. I don't even know how I spotted her, it was just by chance I was looking that way. Tyler and I were in the kitchen with a group of people, chatting and refilling, whenever I looked at the front door as it swung open, and there she was. Jen had arrived. Of course, she wasn't alone. Her entire team piled in with her, a various mix of slim, athletic girls that were wearing quite provocative clothing. That goes for Jen too. She was wearing a very sparkly, low cut top that went down just barely to her butt, to which was covered in leggings. Her makeup was certainly on point, the darkness around her eyes and long eyelashes made her eyes pop and sparkle.

As soon as she made her way through the door, she made eye contact with me, and my heart fluttered as it often does. Her lips curled up just slightly, hinting at a smile. It was completely adorable. That was wiped clean in about a half a second, however, as she was grabbed by her teammates. They seemed to be chatting quite wildly at her, as if trying to convince her of something, her eyes were shooting from one to the next, trying to keep pace with the multiple conversations going on. It was like trying to watch a person keep their head above water. Soon after, she shot a quick glance at me before they made their way up the stairs connected to the living room, and out of my view. I couldn't really tell you why, but my gut told me that that moment, just now, was the turning point of my night...and not for the better.

I couldn't help but let out a sigh, which was kind of odd to see a person sigh while holding to drinks. I seriously think I'm the first person to ever do it. Right on cue, Tyler was right next to me again, "C'mon bud, I spy a couple of babes that look like they need a talkin' to," he nudged his head in the direction of a couple of girls in the living room.

"I-"

"Shutty," he raised a hand to my face, holding a finger up in the sky in a hushing manner, all while still holding a cup, mind you, "They're cute. We're cute. They wanna talk. We wanna talk. So let's go talk."

I know what he was doing. I'm glad he was too. He was trying to keep my mind occupied, so I didn't worry. I couldn't help but let out a slight grin, then looked over at the two poor girls that were about to have to talk with us. They were a couple of brunettes, looked to be close to. Like me, one was kind of hovering behind the other, more charismatic one. They were both pretty good looking, enough to make me nervous to talk to them. Good thing I was starting to feel the alcohol a little bit, or maybe that's a bad thing?

Tyler eagerly pulled me along until we were standing in front of the two ladies, who were now looking at us, awaiting our opening line. I couldn't help but give out a small snort at the smell that was assaulting my senses. Great, now my parents are going to think I was smoking pot. "Hello young ladies, how are you this evening?" Tyler gave them a bow. Yeah. He actually bowed in front of them. Extended his hand and everything.

While I was getting ready to apologize for his dumbness, I noticed that the two girls were both giggling wildly, obviously pleased by the different approach. What in the world? That was completely idiotic and embarrassing, why would they be impressed by that? "Hi there," the more outspoken one spoke first, as expected, "I'm Mia, and this is Rachel," she pointed to the girl that gave us a slight wave as she hid behind her drink, "She's shy, but she'll warm up," the girl gave her a nudge.

"Yeah, so is this one!" There he went again, wrapping his arm around my neck. He was getting quite good at that, only a little alcohol from his drink got on me this time, "I'm Tyler, and this lug is Nick."

"Hi.." I gave a half-hearted hi as I desperately tried to hide behind my cup as well. C'mon alcohol.

"Wow he is shy, not used to that type among this crowd," Mia chuckled at me.

"Yeah, I'm trying my best to break him out of his shell," like a little snail, Tyler released me from his grip and slowly started closing the distance between him and the girl as they talked. Sneaky bastard. "You girls don't look too familiar, are you from another school?"

"Yeah, we're from the state university actually."

"Wow, that's quite a hefty drive!" Inch by inch he got closer.

I tuned it out after that point, this conversation didn't really interest me. I was just about to look around for Jen again whenever my eyes met the shy one's. What was her name?...Rachel, that's it. She quickly shot down back into her cup. I couldn't help but give out a chuckle, it was like I was looking at a girl version of me. Her hair was short, which wasn't really my taste, but the way it dangled just above her shoulders was actually pretty cute. She had some deep, hazel eyes that, surprisingly enough, weren't surrounded in makeup. In fact, she wasn't wearing much at all, if any. Freckles lined along her cheekbones gave that away, clearly. So she was more of a natural girl, nice.

Then, like a sixth sense again, I looked behind me to see Jen and another girl coming down the stairs, laughing and having a good time. I watched her, in all of her beauty, as she made the turn around the stairs and happily trotted to the kitchen. I gulped the last of my drink down as quickly as I could, "Excuse me, I'm gonna get a refill." I didn't even wait for a reply, I started heading toward the kitchen. I felt the eyes of those three on me as I walked away though, I knew that Tyler knew what my goal was. Just before I was out of earshot, I heard him pick the conversation back up that had lagged with my sudden absence, nice save buddy.

As soon as I broke the plane of the doorway it was like I was transferred to another dimension. Unusually, the crowd in the kitchen was minimal, in fact just Jen was at the counter with a couple of stragglers hanging around in the corners. I sucked in a deep breath, released, then walked up behind her. She was making quite a few drinks, and I took note that the girl she walked down with was nowhere around. I poked her in the small of her back, "Hey, stranger." Wow, could've thought of a better opening line.

She looked over her shoulder, just enough to make eye contact with me, "Hey, you. Enjoying the party?" She immediately went back to making the drinks.

"Yeah, Tyler is being, well, Tyler. I've actually held a couple of conversations as well, surprisingly enough," I chuckled, but my heart felt heavy as she just continued what she was doing.

"Yeah, he's a weirdo after all," she finished what she was doing and finally turned around to face me, "Did you see where Jess went?"

"Huh? Jess?" I didn't know that person.

"The girl that was with me, goof."

"Oh, no..." Even though she was facing me, she didn't make eye contact, which was kind of weird for her.

"Hey," I grabbed her hand, she seemed rather taken back as she looked at me, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she slipped out of my grasp, "I'm fine. Having a blast, that's a silly question to ask. Shouldn't you be getting back to Tyler?"

This didn't feel right at all, was she trying to get me to leave her alone? Was what Tyler said true? Was what I feared true? Was she...afraid to be seen with me? That's absurd, we hung out plenty of times, the three of us, in public. Hell, we went to that club and her and I danced together. So what's with this? What the hell is going on? "What is go-"

"I'm back!" the assumed "Jess" girl shot into the kitchen like a laser, her voice obnoxiously loud.

"There you are, I though you ditched me to carry these by myself," Jen started handing off drinks.

"Can we help you?" The girl gave me a stare from hell, her voice wasn't all bubbly like her entrance, but more like a 'get the hell out' tone of voice.

"It's cool. He's my..." Jen shook her head, as if trying to shake off a chill or something, "friend. We were just chatting."

"Oh. Cool. Let's go back upstairs, the guys are waiting for us!"

I just stood there like a stone. Who was this witch to barge in and take that kind of tone with me? I wasn't doing anything wrong. What the hell was that? Did Jen even notice that tone she took with me? Did she care? The two started walking away, drinks galore in there hands. "I'll catch up with you later, Nick," Jen said without even turning to me as they walked.

"Jen," I said her name a little bit more louder than I expected. She was in the doorway when she froze, her "friend" was in front of her and stopped walking as well. She looked back at me, not with a look of happiness or questioning, but it looked more like a look of pain.

"I said I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Fine..." I replied, looking down at my empty drink.

"What was that all about?" I heard her friend asking as they started walking away again. My heart sunk even further.

I sat there, staring at my empty drink for quite some time. My feelings were raging a war inside me. I didn't know whether to feel hurt, disgust, hatred, or what. All I know is it was getting warmer in here, or maybe it was just me. I could tell which emotion was winning over. My blood felt like it was starting to boil, and my grip on my cup was getting tighter. I didn't understand what was going on. Who was that person? It wasn't the Jen I knew.

Then, out of the blue, some random dude held up a shot glass to me. Not a real one, one of those cheap, plastic things. I grabbed it out of his hand. He held his up, I guess to toast, so I clinked my plastic cup against his and we kicked it back. "Gah! That's some good shit!" He tossed the cup aside then patted me on the shoulder, "bitches, man." Then, as suddenly as he appeared, he left. That was a little strange. Maybe...he saw the whole thing? So it wasn't just me that was thrown off by their actions, it appeared that way to other people as well. Of course...I looked over at the kitchen window, my reflection was barely visible...it probably just looked like a nerd was trying to talk to a popular girl. I sighed heavily, that's so fucking cliché.

"Taking long enough?" It was Tyler's voice. I started to look up at him to ask him if we could leave, but for some reason choked up when I saw the two girls with him.

"We thought you got lost!" Mia exclaimed as she walked over and browsed the various alcohols.

"I..um.." I couldn't speak. I couldn't think. Not after that. My mind just shut down, as it usually does in these sorts of situations.

That was when I felt a hand on either shoulder, a pair of shoes filled my eyesight as I stared at the ground. I knew it was Tyler. I didn't expect his next move though. He rested his head against mine, coming way too close to my face. Before I could pull back he started talking, very softly, "C'mon man. Try and have a good time. Forget about what just happened," he raised his head as I did, making eye contact, "I know it hurts."

"You two going to kiss or?" Mia was giving us a very peculiar look, almost as if she was wanting that to happen.

Tyler ignored her comment, holding out his hand in front of me. I grasped it and he pulled me in for a nice bro hug. Then, like a switch, he flipped back to his normal self. He twirled around, arm around me, boasting at the ladies, "I mean, if you want to test our friendship, what's a kiss between buddies?!" He flattered his eyes jokingly at them, then me.

"Hell no," I pushed him away, having to smile at him.

"What were you drinking?" The soft voice of the Rachel girl spoke up as she walked up next to the counter.

"Uh...um...rum and sprite," I managed to spit out words, shockingly.

"OH MY GOD!" I think Mia was about to blow a gasket, "You actually spoke to someone!" She flew over, hugging all over Rachel, who was obviously annoyed, as she kept going on and on about how proud of her she was. All Tyler and I could do was laugh.

I wanted to take Tyler's advice and just try and have a good time, in fact, I was putting up a pretty good act of it right now. The girls babbling and giggling all over each other, Tyler jumping into the mix breaking the touch barrier with not just one, but both of them, it was all like background noise to me right now. I could see it, I reacted to it. I acted as if I was smiling and laughing off what just happened, but within my heart, I was still hurting. The rage that was momentarily cut down by Tyler's entrance was still within me, slowly building up. I had a tendency to bottle up my emotions, then like a volcano, I erupt.

Honestly, that's where the world of Athalia has been most beneficial to me. Not only was it an escape from this reality, but you could easily blow off some steam by kicking some monster ass. I can remember plenty of nights that I vented my frustrations at hordes of monsters. The only downside was it was temporary. Slaying down every monster in the game couldn't solve the problem, it could only temporarily numb the pain. "Here you go..." the shy one handed me a drink, momentarily snapping me out of my daze.

Tyler and Mia were chatting it up quite heavily, I guess Rachel felt cut out of that conversation so was going to attempt to talk to me, brave choice, especially with how I am right now. "If you don't mind me asking..." instead of standing in front of me, in face to face conversation, she was standing beside me "...who was that girl? Do you know her?"

Not only are you trying to talk to me when I'm in a shit mood, but that's your topic of choice? I felt a jolt of anger make it's way up all the way to my brain from my heart. How dare she ask such a thing after she just saw what happened? Is she mocking me? Is this some sort of joke? What the hell is her problem? I gritted my teeth, taking several deep breaths to try to dissipate some of the anger.

"Something like that..." my hand instinctively tightened its grip around my cup whenever I spoke. My tone was not all too flattering either, I could hear the anger in it myself.

"I'm...sorry, I shouldn't have asked..."

I let out the deepest breath I could, "No, I'm sorry," I felt a cool wave of calmness take over me, at least temporarily, "I'm just a little...I mean...I...I'm just not myself at the moment, sorry."

I could see a tiny sense of relief in her eyes, even if it was a half-hearted apology. I buried my face into my drink once more, finishing it in no time. Rachel just looked at me with a combination of shock and amazement, lightly holding onto her still three-fourths full cup. "I think I need a shot, you need a shot?" I was desperately trying to find something positive to cling on to.

"Um, sur-"

"Did I hear shot?!" Tyler burst into our little conversation with enormous amounts of enthusiasm, and was soon followed by a very happy looking Mia as well.

I figured if I drank enough, and stuck by Tyler, maybe the anger swelling within me would dissipate. His happy, go lucky attitude and behavior had to rub off on me, right? Well, half of this plan was probably right, but the drinking part probably wasn't. I couldn't even count the drinks any more, let alone the number of shots. I let the numbness of alcohol take over every part of my being. It was like I was kicking on the autopilot. Let my body do what it wants, I don't care.

* * *

Somehow, some way we ended up out in the backyard around a small little bonfire. It was just us four, most of the other people weren't interested in being out here, I guess. I mean, the half naked, drunk girls were all inside dancing. "Time for some truth or dare!" Mia, the obnoxious, declared with a drink in the sky, "Mr. Tyler," she was using her cup as a microphone, "truth or dare?"

"Ehem," he cleared out his throat, "Dare, babe," he replied with a wink.

Mia's eyes sparkled and she grinned with pleasure, "Alright! I want you," she poked her finger into Tyler's chest, "to do one lap around the house."

"That's the best you go-"

"Naked."

Rachel and I almost synchronously spit out our drinks. "Shit..." Tyler sighed as he sat his drink down next to him, "I guess that's what I get for opening my big mouth..."

"Strip! Strip! Strip!" Mia was looking way too excited as she clapped and cheered Tyler on.

"Alright," he pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it at Mia, "time to unleash the sexiness that is my body!"

Sexiness? I thought as I found myself watching my best friend strip. Hardly. His skin was way paler than mine, in fact, even with the darkness of night, with the faint light from the fire, his skin practically glowed. I will say, he was quite toned. No where near buff, but well laid out. I decided my best option was to look away into the darkness as his pants dropped, to which brought more cheers from Mia. By now, there was no doubt in my mind that some people from the house had to of heard her and diverted their attention to what was going on. Just the thought made me uncomfortable. Of course, I was handling it better than the shy one.

I broke off my daze into the darkness temporarily to sneak a look at Rachel, as expected, her face was pink all over. Her blush seemed to take over her entire face, rendering her unable to hide her nervousness. I caught a glimpse of her looking over at me out of my peripheral vision as I looked away. I wonder what she was thinking about.

"Here I go!" Tyler took off, starting toward the right side of the house. Moments later an eruption of whoops and cheers could be heard from areas around the house. We could tell exactly where he was in his lap just by the direction of the cheering.

After he got back, clothed, and the attention from his actions calmed down, we found ourselves back where we started. "Alright then. Rachel," Tyler shot a dubious glare over at the poor shy girl, her face still hadn't fully recovered from his prior actions, and his sudden pointing out of her only made her blush come back ten times over.

"Y-Yes?"

"Truth or dare, madam."

"Tr-Truth."

I almost felt sorry for how nervous she was, and Tyler's gaze upon her was not helping matters any. She was desperately trying to hide herself behind her cup as she answered him. Honestly, it was completely adorable. I guess it could be worse, I could be as nervous as her. Well, actually I'm probably worse, but the numbness of alcohol was certainly benefiting me at the moment.

"Do you think my handsome, intelligent companion there," he nodded his head toward me, "is attractive?"

It was like alarm bells shot off all over inside her head. Her eyes shot open with shock, a shocking gasp escaping her lips. She nearly lost her drink as well, which I'm pretty sure was empty at this point. Ironically enough, it didn't really affect me that much. I mean, my heart fluttered a little bit, but I was anticipating this sort of move by Tyler. Man, alcohol really does put a numbness on my nerves. If I was sober, I probably would've freaked out and ran away by now.

"Well?" Mia joined in on the fun with a pressing glare, matching Tyler's.

"Um...Um..." She was shaking now, trading glances between the two of them and me.

"It's alright, you don't have to-"

"Yes she does!" Mia shot up from her sitting position and pointed a commanding finger at me.

"Come on, if she's not comfor-"

"I do," a soft chirp came from my side. On a side note, apparently I'm not allowed to finish my sentences.

"I knew it!" Tyler shot up, shooting a fist of triumph into the sky.

I looked over at the shy girl, as soon as her eyes met mine she shot her look down to the ground. I didn't think a person's face could possibly get that red and it not be a sun burn. "Thanks," I shot her my best "happy" smile, to which she seemed pleased at my response.

She's a nice, cute girl. It's unfortunate that my heart was elsewhere. I'm sure that I could get to know this girl better and it would probably be a fun time. However, that would not be fair to her. I can't extend something like that to her unless it would be with a hundred percent of my heart, and I know it wouldn't be. I felt a slight sigh escape my lips. I don't think any of the three caught it though, which is nice, since I'd probably be mortified for it.

"Alright Rachel, we all know who you are going to pick, so ask him the question!"

"Um..Truth or Dare...Nick?"

"Dare me, why not."

As soon as the words escaped my lips, it looked as if a brick hit the poor girl in the chest. She shot out a huge exhale. It was odd. I kept my eyes trained on her, trying to figure out what she was thinking. The next moment she took a deep breath, then shocking words escaped.

"Go tell that girl how you feel."

At first, I was confused, what did she say? Then came realization. That girl? Who's that girl? Then understanding. I shot up, unable to respond calmly, "What?!" I looked at both Mia and Tyler whose mouths were both equally gaping. "You can't be serious?" I looked down at the shy girl once again.

Something was different about her in that moment. She wasn't shaking anymore, and all of the flush in her face had disappeared. She was calm, collected, and stared right back at me with a gaze of confidence. So that's what she was building up for, man that takes some balls. After the initial shock, the emotions in my chest that I had buried of recent starting swirling once more. Anger, shock, despair, sadness, angst. A war was once again erupting in my heart.

"Now, now," Tyler finally snapped out of his trance and stood up, "I think that's a little out there, even for a dare. Let's just-"

"I'll do it."

I gripped my right hand into a fist so hard I could almost feel my knuckles locking up on me. Determination filled my eyes. If this shy, nervous girl had the resolve to say something like that, to me, someone she just met, how could I not take the dare? On the other hand, maybe it was just the push I needed. My emotions were all bottling up in my chest, and this girl just pointed them in a direction to escape.

"I don't think that's such a good—Nick!" He hollered after me as I set pace for the house.

I had no idea what I would say to her. How do I even feel about her? I feel something for her. I know I do. How do I put those feelings into words? My pace quickened as I drew closer to the house. Soon I was through the back door. My thoughts drowned out all of the sound around me, all I could hear was my panicked self. Through the kitchen, right by the living room, and up the stairs. What the hell am I doing?

It wasn't until after I reached the top of the stairs that I realized I had no idea which room she was in. I looked down the hallway. Doors lined on either side, the one on the far right had a tie on the knob, I hope she's not in that one. I heard the mumblings of people, then laughter. I started walking down the hallway, listening intently. As I moved along, the voices became more and more clear, until finally there was one I recognized. "Jen..." I was staring at the plain, closed door, second one on the left. The laughter had now died down and it was near silent on the other side, if I just opened it and spoke, she would hear me. That's all I have to do.

I sucked in a deep breath, and threw the door open. It swung all the way open, making a quite obnoxious thunk as it hit the door stop. My eyes peered forward as I was about to mouth the words to her name, then I stopped cold. My heart plummeted into my stomach. My stomach twisted into knots. I couldn't believe what my eyes were telling me. There I stood, in the open doorway, a group of people were huddled around the center of the room, and Jen had her lips locked with a guy.

They were in a circle. There were probably ten people in total, looked to be an even split between boys and girls. Most were sitting in various styles on the floor and a couple were sitting on the end of the single bed in the room. Jen was on the floor, leaning forward into the middle of the circle, where a guy on the opposite end was mimicking the same pose; their lips locked.

Most of them jumped with my sudden entry. It couldn't of been a long kiss, but the image was burned into my eyes and it felt like it lasted an eternity. When they broke off, both were staring at me. The man, I had never seen before, looked to be a typical jock type. His face was of mostly confusion. I didn't care. My eyes were fixated on the blue eyed blonde whose eyes were locked with mine. She had a look of fear across her face. That was obviously something I wasn't supposed to see.

"Wh...Wha..." I couldn't even get the simplest of words out of my mouth. My eyes fell to the ground, I felt tears starting to run down my cheeks. I need to leave. I needed to leave now. But my body wouldn't budge, like it was cast in stone in this place.

"Um, who are you? And what do you want?" One of the guys spoke up.

"I don't believe it! Nick? Nick, is that you?" I know that voice, I looked up slightly to see my suspicions were correct, "Who the hell invited you here? I sure didn't." It was Jon. The host of the party, and the one that gave me the most shit in class.

"Nick..." I heard the light voice of Jen come from behind the man that was now walking toward me.

"If you don't mind, we were in the middle of a game," his tone was quickly re-igniting the fires within my chest, "Please leave, like now." He was now standing in front of me. He wasn't that much taller than me, maybe a few inches, and he wasn't all that buff. He seemed like your typical, slim dude. I knew he played sports, but I never paid attention to which ones, didn't care to. That alone meant he was probably more fit than me.

"I wanted..." my voice got choked up in my throat.

"What was that? Doesn't sound like you leaving, or did I not make it clear," He shoved a very unwelcome finger into my chest.

"I wanted to talk to Jen..."

"Who?" He looked behind him for a second, then looked back at me, "Oh, her? What the hell could you possibly have to say to her? Do as all a favor, kid, and get lost." This time I got a full hand shoved into my chest which knocked me off balance and backward.

"Jen..." I looked straight passed the douche in front of me at her, she was still kneeling on the floor. Her eyes were watery, she looked as if she wanted to say something, but no voice escaped her lips.

"You just can't take a hint!" A full on shove knocked me back and into the wall.

"Nick!" Jen screamed and got to her feet as fast as she could, but she froze in her place whenever Jon looked back at her.

He stared at her, then looked over at me, then back at her. I made no attempt to get back up on my feet from my position against the wall. He did another couple takes, then started laughing. It was a creepy laugh. One that was meant to be at the expense of another. "I can't believe it," he said between gasps of air, "You? And her? And you think you have a chance? That's hilarious!"

Anger was boiling over inside of me. Every word that escaped his mouth added to it. I gritted my teeth as I listened to him mock me more and more. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I gripped both of my fists together, trying desperately not to do anything stupid. Of course he saw it. His laughing stopped almost immediately, "Oh? Is someone getting angry?"

"Shut up," I spat angrily, looking up at him with the evilest glare I could muster.

"Now, now. You shouldn't be mad at me. She's the one playing you here, kid. I mean, C'mon. You didn't think she actually would go for someone like you, would you?"

"That's enough!" Jen shouted from behind him.

He shot a glare at her, "Oh shut up, bitch. If you are going to be like that you can leave with this piece of tra-"

I punched him in the stomach with all of my might. Time froze in that moment. My fist was slowly making it's way deeper into his soft, unsuspecting belly. I could see the wind being knocked right out of him. The people's faces inside the room were slowly changing into those of shock, some were starting to smile from the anticipation of a fight. Jen was the only one with the look of horror on her face. Her hands were slowly making their was up to her mouth. Then, everything sped back up.

"Ngh!" The air shot out of Jon's lungs quickly as he stumbled backwards into the room and landed on his rear.

"Don't you ever talk to her like that," I commanded him as he desperately tried to refill his lungs with oxygen.

"Why...you little..." He spat out between breaths as he slowly regained his feet.

"Nick! Please go! Now!" Jen pleaded.

"I need to talk to you!" I screamed back at her, "I have so many things I want to tell you. Things I want to ask you. Things I need to-"

"Nick!" I was interrupted by her scream, then the next moment I felt a fist connect with the side of my jaw. My head shot to the side from the hit, causing me to stumble backwards. By the time I looked forward to see my assaulter, another fist was already coming at me. This one knocked my back again, causing me to lose my balance and fall to the ground.

I barely got myself onto all fours before a swift kick nailed me right in the gut. It was my turn to gasp for air. I hit the floor once again immediately after, gasping for breath. "You think you can hit someone when they aren't paying attention and get away with it?" Jon's angry voice was standing over me.

I don't know how many kicks I took the the stomach and chest area, but I lost count. It felt like it was never going to let up. I did my best to block with my arms, but I didn't do a very good job of it. "Stop it!" I heard Jen's scream then looked up to see her shove Jon down the hallway, toward the stairs.

She immediately dropped to my side, "Are you okay? Nick? Nick!"

"You bitch!" Jon cursed under his breath as he regained his footing.

Jen was desperately trying to help me to my feet, but I only had one goal in my mind. I started this, by god I wasn't done yet. As soon as I stood, somewhat, upright and regained my balance. I pushed the helping hands of Jen away from me and bolted forward toward him. As he braced himself for me, I saw a smile trickle across his face, "Bring it on!"

I speared into his gut as hard as I could. He had a pretty good, sturdy stance, but my momentum was not going to be stopped. He grabbed onto me as I slammed into him, my momentum taking us into the wall at the top of the stairwell. His knee hit my gut. My fist hit his. His slugged me in the face, I returned the favor. I ignored all of the pain. All that mattered was I beat the crap out of him. Our trading of blows soon turned into a wrestling struggle, to which an outcome came that neither of us wanted. While struggling to gain a hold, my foot slipped on the top step, causing me to fall backward, dragging Jon along with me. There was no stopping it. We were going down.

We tumbled all the way down the stairs. I didn't remember the entire trip down, but my eyes were extremely hazy as I looked around trying to gauge my surroundings afterwards. I figured out that I was on the floor, immediately after the end of the steps, whereas Jon was still lying on the last two. It wasn't long before people swarmed us, helping us up, blasting us both with questions. I could hear all their voices, but they all seemed to run together. Maybe I hit my head on the way down?

"Are you alright?" Some guy filled my vision, "Say something!" I felt the light tap of a slap on the side of my cheek.

"That..kinda hurts," I pushed his hand away and tried to stand up, with the assistance of a couple people around me.

"Out of my way!" as soon as I got my balance I looked over to see Jon shoving people away from him, his eyes glaring at me. This wasn't over, I guess.

"C'mon," I was rethinking this entire situation now, "Can't we just call it?"

"Not until I beat the snot out of your little punk ass!" Jon wiped some blood that was running from his lip then spit in my direction, "C'mon!"

"I'm done."

"What?"

"I said, I'm done," I looked at him, "We just fell down the fucking stairs, my body aches all over, and I probably have a concussion, so I'm leaving."

I started to turn around whenever I heard his footsteps coming from behind me at quite the quick pace. He wasn't going to let this go. I felt his left hand grip my right shoulder and tug, the result of the action turned me in his direction. I figured he was going to go for a right hook. Not even thinking about it, I raised my left hand even before my eyes caught a glimpse of his oncoming fist. His fist slowly moved through the air as my left hand raised to greet it. My fingers wrapped around his fist, now locked in place, my arm absorbed the full hit of the blow.

That moment froze in my mind, the very moment when my hand met the full force of his fist. In that moment, I caught a glimpse of a hand that was not mine. The hand that caught the fist looked different, almost fake. Ice blue markings etched there way all over the skin. In this moment I wasn't me, but my other self. Maybe my eyes were deceiving me in that moment, a cruel trick played on me by my own mind. An instant later, I was snapped back into the realm of reality, and the hand I looked upon was once again my own.

He stood there in disbelief. There we were, in the middle of this group of people, and a nerd just caught his fist mid punch. I gotta say, it hurt like a bitch. I felt the momentum from his fist shoot through my hand, up my arm, and unleash hell on my shoulder. Of course, I tried my best not to wince at that sudden, sharp pain.

As soon as he recovered from the shock, he used his left hand to knock mine away and went for another right hook. He was getting very sloppy. The wind up for his right hook told me exactly what he was about to do. My mind had a certain calmness to it as I devised my plan to dodge. He was going high, for my face again. A simple duck under and right hook to the gut might be enough to end this. Following my plan, I swiftly ducked under the sweeping hook, then threw the remaining amount of my energy into my fist as it once again shot into his stomach.

I stumbled backward and away from him as his weight suddenly was leaning against me. I let that douche fall right onto the floor, gasping for breath. In the next moment I felt incredibly light headed, I looked around to see Tyler bursting through the crowd of people out. I'm pretty sure he knocked a couple of people's phones out of their hands as he made his way to me. Everything was blurry as I tried to make my way toward him. I felt myself falling forward, my last vision was of the ground before it all went black.

* * *

"Nick….Nick...C'mon man, come back to me, man," Tyler's voice rang through my ears as I slowly opened my eyes.

I was lying on my back, still on the floor. I felt something soft underneath my head, I assume it was a pillow or something. After blinking a couple of times I looked to my side to see Tyler kneeling right beside me. There was still a bunch of people standing around me, all of them were staring, various looks of concern on their faces. I reached up and grabbed my head with my hand, it was like a monkey was pounding right on my brain.

"Don't scare me like that, bud."

"How long was I out?" I asked as he helped me sit up.

"Only a couple of minutes, but it felt like an eternity. I didn't know whether to call an ambulance or not."

"Where's Jon?" Tyler's expression told me that he could sense the anger in my tone.

He pointed to the kitchen, "his buddies took him over there to try and cool him off. That last shot really did a number on him."

Tyler grabbed under my arm and helped me to my feet. It was strangely quiet. No one was saying anything, they were just staring. I looked around, seeing nothing but unfamiliar faces. Then I spotted Mia and Rachel amongst the groups of people, Mia was wearing concern all over her face and Rachel was flat out in tears. I looked over and up the stairs to find Jen standing a few steps below her friends, all of them staring at me. Jen just stood there, her eyes puffy and red, she must have been crying. Heck, it looked like she was going to bust out into tears right now.

"Shut up!" I heard someone yelling from the kitchen, it was Jon, "Where is he?" He stumbled through the doorway of the kitchen, he looked to be in pretty bad shape. His eyes met mine, "There you are you little rat!"

He started toward me in the quickest pace he could manage, which was like a kind of speed walk, except he was no where near walking in a straight line. It was definitely visible that he wasn't seeing or thinking straight. Before he even got anywhere close to me, Tyler stood in front of me, between him and I. By the time Jon made it up to him, he looked as if he was out of breath.

"Out of my way, this is between him and me!"

"Sorry, can't do that. You two have done enough," Tyler crossed his arms and glared at him, which seemed to only enrage him further.

"GRR! Fine!"

"Tyler!" I tried to warn him, but by the time my words escaped my mouth Jon's fist had already connected with Tyler's chin.

Surprisingly, Tyler didn't budge an inch. He straightened out his neck from the blow, and moved his jaw around the way one does to check that everything is still working, and simply looked at his attacker. Jon just stood there, once again in disbelief. He had to be exhausted by now, I know I am. "Are you done?" Tyler asked him, still giving him a stern look.

Jon gritted his teeth, curse something under his breath, then turned around to head back to the kitchen. That was when Tyler turned around to face me, "Let's get you out of here."

He wrapped my arm around his neck to support me as we slowly made our way to the door. The people surrounding us were all starting to make small talk now, their mumbling all blending together to slowly increase the noise of the room. Anyone who was in our way quickly moved out of it, which was nice.

"Nick!" I turned to the source of the voice, a blonde girl standing about halfway down the steps, Jen.

A couple of tears streamed down her face as she stared at me. Once again, she looked as if she was dying to say something to me, yet her lips stayed silent. We stared at each other for a good couple of seconds, no one saying a word. Honestly, at this moment, I couldn't care less about anything I wanted to tell her. My feelings had been stepped on, and trampled over in a matter of a few minutes. At this moment, I had no words for her. I broke my gaze off of her, staring at the ground ahead of me, mumbling to Tyler that we can go. I left her standing there on that staircase, and I don't regret it.

* * *

A/N: Man, that was a beast of a chapter. I had thoughts about splitting it into two, but decided to keep it all together. So...drama, new people, nice, right? Now if you are thinking what about the new people introduced at Tyler's party that haven't made an appearance since, don't worry, they'll be back, as well as with Mia and Rachel. So what is Nick going to do now? Why was Jen acting so weird? And most importantly, what was with that weird, seeing his character's hand thing? Guess you'll have to wait and find out (or at least I hope you do).

Thanks for reading.


	14. Tutorial Complete

Time sure does fly by whenever I keep myself busy. School. Work. Athalia. Repeat. I wish I could say the cause of time passing by so fast was out of enjoyment. It wasn't. Ever since that night, which was about a month ago now, my mind has been on a kind of autopilot. It's my defense mechanism. I just shut down. I keep doing the same things, even do them in the same way, but it's different. If I try to find joy in something, I am just opening myself up to every other emotion. The best way to let my heart heal was to shut everything out. Turn everything off. In other words, go through the motions. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you want to look at it, it has proven difficult this time around.

My parents, who I assume are fully aware of my habit to do this, have been more pressing now than in the past. They poke and prod, trying to get any information out of me they can. I think if I have to hear my mom's speech about how they are here for me one more time I might get sick to my stomach. Aside from my parents, there is Tyler and my co-workers, more particularly my manager, Julie. I try my best to keep an open mind when it comes to Tyler, but I'm finding it increasingly difficult. Hell, I've even snapped on him a couple times recently over the stupidest things. I always immediately apologize afterward, but there is only so much an apology can do.

I will say, he is quite the trooper. He gets a little flustered at me sometimes, but he's hanging in there, by my side, just like he said he would. He tries his best. At school he makes a point to be with me as much as possible, whether that's just walking with me somewhere or sitting in class. Our conversations are even more one sided than they were before, I barely offer any input anymore as I listen to him babble on. As much as I want to be grateful for what he is doing, it's hard. My heart just keeps screaming to be left alone, and I have to force myself to stay around him. It's the least I can do, I know he has to be hurting in some way too. I mean, it's not just me that she abandoned, she abandoned him too.

I guess that just leaves my manager, Julie. I don't really talk about her much any more, especially after meeting Tyler and Jen, but she's been there, all along. She would sit and listen to my rambling about the adventures we were going on. Every shift. Never failed. Even if she initiated the conversation, I would take it over and start yapping about this, that, or the other. Which is weird, since it's the polar opposite of my personality. However, she noticed something was off within five minutes of my first shift after the incident. She drug me, literally, to the back and pinned me up against the wall demanding answers. Of course, I denied anything being wrong. After minutes of continuous questions from her, I broke away with the excuse "I have work to do," choking back tears as I walked away from her.

Tonight was another long night of the usual grind. I crawled into bed, having just spent the last of my remaining energy in the world of Athalia. My alarm clock read 2:00 am in big, neon blue, digital numbers. I'm only going to be getting about 4 hours of sleep tonight. I sighed as I tried to get myself comfortable, tossing and turning a couple of times. It was going to be hard getting to sleep with all of these thoughts swirling around in my mind, especially with the lingering thoughts of my conversation with the old man just a few minutes ago.

* * *

 _~Flashback~_

"You've grown strong, young warrior," the old man walked around me as I knelt in the middle of the training room that I've spent so much time in.

I wasn't kneeling out of respect or anything, I was just flat out exhausted. Bright, ice blue etchings covered the entire span of the floor. It expanded outwards in a circular pattern, each layer of circle connecting to its outer sibling in several ways. The space created between the circles was occupied with text in some fancy looking font script, it bore similarities to an Old English script I saw once. I didn't know the meaning of the words, in fact, they flat out confused me. It was like gibberish almost. I didn't care about that flavor text though, for the goal of this exercise was concentration. The further the markings etched themselves into the stone away from me, the harder it was for me to make that happen.

I had tried this exercise many, many times before. I would kneel in the middle of the room, placing both of my hands flat on the ground. After exhaling a deep breath, I would concentrate as hard as I could on channeling all of my energy into my hands. The markings, that bore extreme similarity to the rings and text on the ground, that covered the majority of my skin would glow the same ice blue. The rest took care of itself; as long as I held my concentration, it would keep expanding. This time was different, though. This was the first time that I managed to cover the scale of the room. The old man was quite impressed and pleased with himself, I might add.

"You've done well," the old man continued his slow pace around me as I attempted to stand up. I wasn't physically exhausted, but mentally. Just the simple notion of sending the order from my brain to my muscles to move was proving difficult. Nevertheless, I finally made it to my feet.

"You have certainly proven yourself worthy of the power I have bestowed upon you," the old man finally settled in front of me, both hands behind his back as he looked into my eyes, "Every challenge I have given you, you have surpassed. I couldn't be more proud. However, this is just the beginning for you. I have taught you everything that I can, now it is up to you to go forth on your own path..."

Is it just me, or does this sound like some cheesy, tutorial level bull spit? I swear his speech is following the how-to guide on tutorials. Here's a special power, only you can do this, blah blah blah. Oh shit, he's still talking.

"...You will face many challenges on your journey, and will need to learn many things. You must always remember, young warrior," he peered deeply into my eyes, kind of freaking me out, "you mustn't be afraid of failure. Failure breeds success. You must try, and try again, when you fail. That is the only way you will succeed. Now...I have something for you for your accomplishment," with a swift flick of his hand a pop up modal appeared in front of my face, letting me know that I had just received an item.

 _Elemental Cloak._ Ha, go figure on the name. Just from the look of it, it appeared to just be one of your typical cloaks, popular among thieves and hunters. Guess I better put it on. I swiftly opened up my menu, navigating through the various tabs until I opened up a window with my character standing in it, surrounded by all of the attached equipment. With a simple drag and drop, I equipped the cape. At the same moment, a white flash surrounded me as the cape burst into existence on my body with a flutter.

Looking over it on my body, it still just appeared to be a normal cloak. The entire thing was made of black fabric, didn't seem to be any sort of high quality fabric either. The only thing that stood out about it was the ice blue trimming that glowed along all of the edges, but any kind of aesthetics like that could easily be done by a tailor.

"So my prize for completing the Elementalist tutorial is a normal cloak?" I joked, giving out a half hearted laugh at the end of my sentence.

The old man simply smiled at me. He raised his hand out in front of himself, holding out two fingers, then, with a swift flick upwards, a crystal burst through the floor. It appeared to just form out of thin air. It was just about as wide as me, and probably about a foot taller. The ice looking crystal was such a bright, light blue that it almost gave off a white appearance. That's when I noticed that I could see my reflection in the front of it. Oh, so it's like a fancy, crystal mirror thing.

I paused and studied myself in the mirror. The cloak draped over my entire body, ending just about where my boots started. Standing with my arms beside me, the cloak entirely covered my body, including my arms, which would be useful for a surprise attack as the enemy couldn't see my hands. At the top, right behind my head, a hood was thrown back. I flipped it up over my head, the thing nearly hung so low that it covered my eyes, but oddly enough I could still see perfectly clear. Gotta love game logic. I did notice in the mirror that it became incredibly difficult to see my face. It was there, I could kind of see it, but anyone looking at me would definitely have a hard time recognizing me. That's when I noticed it.

"WHAT?!" My eyes shot open. I burst forward, grabbing both hands on either side of the mirror, the sudden burst causing the hood to fly off and rest on my back. My markings. The markings that covered nearly my entire body, including my face, to my disappointment, were gone. I had become so used to seeing them in this world that it was just like they were a part of me. Now, they're gone! I shot a questioning look around the crystal at the old man, who was smiling.

"So you noticed?" He seemed quite pleased with himself.

My face quickly shot to one of annoyance, my eyebrows scrunched up as I gave him a glare, "You going to explain this to me or not, old man?"

"The cloak you have there," he pointed to it, as if I didn't know what cloak we were talking about, "is a one of a kind item. I had it specially made just for you."

"One of a kind?" I couldn't help but look at the cloak in a new light now. It wasn't every day that you came across an item that was unique in the game, but then again, no use having a unique item that isn't helpful.

The old man gave me a nod at my rhetorical question, then continued, "On the surface, as you can see, it looks just like a normal cloak. An item that anyone in the game can obtain, and customize to their liking. This is by design, it'll draw less attention that way."

I was about to ask a question, but he started his next sentence with a bit of assertion as if to say _shut up, I'm not finished yet._ "You see, our conversation from our first meeting has been on my mind as of late. You had concerns of other players and their judgment toward you, whether that be positive or negative."

"Yeah..." I remember that conversation, boy just thinking about that whole conversation makes me feel like an idiot. Of course, I think back on a lot of things in my life and think how idiotic I was to have done them.

"That cloak will hide all of the physical attributes that come with being an Elementalist. As a bonus, of sorts, it will hide your name and mask your presence to make identifying you...difficult," he had to think of the right word there at the end.

"So as long as I wear this cloak, I don't have to worry about getting mobbed because of my appearance..."

"However...there is a catch."

"There usually is," I shot the old man a side smirk as I leaned up against the fancy mirror.

"The way the cloak works is by suppressing your Elementalist talent, so..."

"...as long as I wear the cloak, I can't use it," I finished his sentence as I failed to materialize a knife in my hand.

"Well, I wouldn't say you _can't_ use it. It would just be extremely difficult for you to do so."

"So about these bonus abilities you were talking about. How resistant is it to the perception skill?"

The perception skill is something that every person takes note to raise if you are going to be going out in the wilderness to fight monsters, or even other players. The skill itself has a broad range of helpful abilities, such as being able to "sense" an enemy, kind of like a sixth sense. One of the skills is being able to read player names, an often overlooked ability. A player can choose to hide their name, or try to, but it will have varying degrees of success based on the other players around him or her. The higher the perception skill, the easier it is to see a person's name. With all of the skills in Athalia, most being way more exciting than perception, it often goes overlooked. However, this is the very skill that bounty hunters and trackers use to track down and / or mark targets.

The old man's grin grew, "You needn't worry about that. Not even the highest perception skill can read through this cloak's ability."

Wow. This thing is going to be way more handy than it looks. Wearing it, I can walk through towns and other populated areas without having to worry about being blasted with questions. My guess is that the old man added those two "bonus" features in the the event that my talent gets discovered by the wrong crowd. Being able to conceal my identity will help protect me if, or when, rather, I get a target put on my back. I gave out a big sigh, I just hope this whole thing doesn't come back around to bite me in the ass.

The old man walked toward me, resting a hand on my shoulder as soon as he was within arm's length, "The next time you appear in this world, you will be transported to th nearest populated town. This is the end of your training."

Through all the back and forth, it never really hit me what was happening, until he spoke that last sentence. I had lost track of the amount of hours I spent in this room. This bare, dull room and the old man were the only witnesses to the amount of effort I had put into this new talent. Now, I was leaving this place, to rejoin the rest of the world. My chest suddenly got immensely heavy. I was happy that I was finally leaving this place and rejoining the outside world, but at the same time a sort of fear struck over me. _What do I do now?_ The question repeated over and over in my mind.

 _Do I even know how to interact with the outside world anymore?_ Thoughts began flooding through my brain of life in Athalia before all of this. The countless hours I spent traveling around this world, going on quests, overcoming challenges. Then...those most recent memories came up...the ones of my time with Tyler and Jen in this world. The incredible amount of fun we had going on adventures together. The weight in my chest grew twice as large whenever I pictured her face.

"You plan to compete in the Battle of Blades two weeks from now, correct?" My thoughts were dispersed by the sound of the old man's voice.

"Huh?" Was the only word I could spit out. He's right. The Battle of Blades is a mere two weeks away now. Kind of ironic that I would forget about it after worrying for so long about completing my training in time for it. The old man could see I was going through my thoughts and patiently waited for a better answer, "Yes...at least, I think so."

The Battle of Blades. The single-most, exciting tournament in all of Athalia. Naturally, there are a bunch of small tournaments and games that pop up all over the world over the course of the year, but none of them compare to the Battle of Blades. Any player in the entire world could compete. No minimum level, and also no level cap. It had one purpose: to find the strongest player in Athalia. The tournament was so big that you didn't even have to win it to become popular. If you managed to place in the top sixteen, you were practically an instant celebrity the next day. Not to mention that the top sixteen matches are broadcast on national TV. Yeah. It's _that_ big.

The tournament itself wasn't necessarily important to me, I mean, I'm not the kind of person that would cope well with fame and fortune. I just enjoy the fights. The best of the best come to this tournament. It's the perfect opportunity to see how you stack up against the world. You get to see an incredible variety of fighting styles and weapons, for that matter. There is nothing more satisfying than going all out against an evenly matched opponent, regardless of winning or losing. I guess that's a sugar coated way of saying that it's my way of proving to myself that I am strong in this world. Despite being knocked out in the early rounds last time, I will never forget the sensations of the all out battles I was in. It's something truly magical.

The old man's face seemed to tense up with my weary response. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, as if he was swallowing whatever words he was about to exhale. Finally, he seemed to put the right words together, "I believe it will be the perfect opportunity to showcase how you've grown. If not to others, than to yourself."

"Yeah..." I gave out another weak response, scratching the back of my head nervously, "I'm...just a little bit concerned about revealing my talent." It's true, as I voiced in my first meeting with the old man, the thought of unveiling my unique talent to the world terrified me. I was the kind of person that stuck with the crowd, that would go the absurdly long way around in order to avoid standing out. The thought of people finding out about this unique talent, and inevitably swarming me with questions about it...terrified me to no end.

The old man gave out a pretty big sigh, as if disappointed by my hesitation, or maybe that was frustration? "Let me put it this way to you, young warrior," a sharpness took over his eyes as he pierced a gaze at me, "One way or another, at some point down the line, people will find out. It's inevitable."

He was right. Besides, I should be excited about this, not terrified over it. I remember the days of my youth whenever I would be in awe at the players that were tremendously strong, often time carrying the best items in the game, some of them unique items as well. The players always had an aura about them, like they owned that right. Quite the opposite of how I was acting right now. Quite frankly, I'm acting like a scared little girl.

"It is going to happen," the old man said again, as if to reiterate the fact into my mind, but then suddenly he swung around, facing away from me, throwing his hands up into the air, as his voice boasted, "So why not do it in the most prestigious tournament that this world has to offer?! Why not unveil the beauty and power of your talent in front of tens of thousands of roaring spectators?!" He shot a glance back at me, "The crowd would go wild!"

If you ask me, the old man's personality just took a crazy one-eighty. His voice bellowed with a spark that was a combination of excitement and encouragement. It was as if he had been waiting all this time, and he was finally ready to unleash his teachings onto the world, in the form of me. I gotta say, it kind of pumped me up. Just hearing his fiery words got me thinking more about the tournament, and how cool it would be to stand in front of all of those people, "...or even better, in front of national television."

I didn't mean to say that last part of loud, but I most definitely did. The old man shot the biggest grin at me that he could manage, then slammed his hands down on both of my shoulders, "That's it, young warrior! That's the spirit! Hold nothing back, and you may just have..." he paused, "no, you _do have_ what it takes to make it that far, and even beyond!"

"Yeah!" I bellowed out a holler of my own, pumped up from the inspiring speech. I have no idea if I will be able to make it that far, but by god I am going to give it my all. If going all out in a battle in the early rounds of the tournament was satisfying, I can't even imagine how the end of a battle feels on national television, in front of the roaring crowd of a jam-packed stadium of fellow players. I clinched my fists together, I'm going to do this. I'm going to put everything I have into this tournament.

 _~End Flashback~_

* * *

I tossed over in my bed once more, that had to be the hundredth time I had done so in an effort to get comfortable. My mind was still full of thoughts of Athalia, more specifically, the upcoming tournament. Unfortunately, I still had life to deal with. Between now and then, I still had the normal grind of work and school.

Then, as it always has since that night, my mind slowly started to transition back into the me of this world, the one that was weak...and heartbroken. It has gotten to the point where I can physically feel the heartache taking over my mind and body. Like a disease, the pain spreads from my heart to my entire body. During this initial transition back to reality, I've found it nearly impossible to hold back tears. It felt like I had a brick in my throat as I tried to choke back, but ultimately let out a soft sob as the beginning of tears started to stream down my face.

My hands, that were lying on my pillow, slowly, but surely, turned into fists, grasping onto the innocent pillow. My tears and sobbing were always accompanied by anger. I gritted my teeth as I desperately tried to hold everything back. I could feel my fingers locking up from gripping the pillow so hard for so long. This pain wouldn't go away. My mind filled itself with thoughts of her. No matter how hard I tried to push them out, they were here to stay. I did the only thing that I could ultimately do in this world, where I am powerless. I let out a silent, inward scream as I lost constraint on my tears. When I was alone at night, there was nothing I could do to keep it from happening.

* * *

A/N: Hey there! How about that chapter? I feel like in this chapter we got a good sense of the different of Nicholas in the real world, and him in the virtual world. The two parts seem to be drifting farther and farther away, but will that make him lose his grip on reality? On another note, The Battle of Blades is two weeks away! How will our hero do in a world wide tournament? Who knows. See you next chapter!


	15. Ambush

I was perched atop a very tall, skinny tree. It was the middle of the night, so there was no way someone would be able to spot me up here, especially with my level of stealth. I was standing upright on a rather skinny branch, not very ninja-like, I know, but crouching for long periods of time can be quite exhausting. So instead of doing that, I just stood straight up, my right arm keeping myself balanced against the trunk of the tree. I had been waiting here for a good twenty minutes. The excitement was killing me.

You see, there are some players in this world that make a living off of player killing, these kind of people prefer PvP (player versus player) over your standard PvE (player versus environment). So ambushing other players and the like are normal to them. As for myself, I've mostly been a PvE kind of person, so this whole PvP thing is new to me. That's exactly why I am here, though. Over the past few days I've tested my new found skills against some quite difficult, and taxing, quests, but I still haven't gotten a real feel for my capabilities. That's why my plan tonight is to ambush a party in this forest. That way, I can see how my skills really match up.

Don't worry, it's not like I'm ambushing a random crowd and plan on taking all of their items and money. No, the party I'm planning on ambushing are people that I know. I know them pretty well, in fact. You see, I've kept everyone in the dark about my completion of the elementalist training, so they don't expect me to be here. By everyone, I'm talking about Tyler and his new, make-shift party. He told me about it a while back, how he usually runs around with the group from that party I attended. If that still holds true, there should be four targets. Unless...my mind thought back to the guy that absolutely crawled under my skin...What was his name?...Holt. That's it. If he's decided to join the party, then that would make five.

I pulled up my menu in front of me again, swiping through to my friends list, the white, semi-transparent modal window glowed brightly in the dark forest. I clicked on Tyler's name, then clicked the corresponding 'locate' button to see where he was. As expected, he was only a little ways off, and appeared to be coming in this direction. With a simple swipe of my hand, the modal disappeared, and I was once again blanketed in darkness. The sudden transition actually took my eyes a second or two to readjust. My eyes weren't the best in this game, but I had pretty good visual skills. I would be no match for a hunter's vision, but I'd say I'm a lot better than the norm.

I had already previously decided on the location I would drop down on my unsuspecting prey. I looked down and slightly to the left of my current location where there was a small opening in the forest. Honestly, it's a terrible position to choose if I _actually_ wanted to wreck them. It's way too open for someone like me who's main weapon is speed. If I were to be taking this as an actual, serious ambush, I would definitely choose a spot with more cover. However, this is a great spot for this particular case. For one, no one expects to be ambushed right out in the open; and two, this is a test of my skill, so being in the open like that is the most difficult scenario I could be in, which, unfortunately, is the exact scenario I will be in during the tournament matches.

* * *

The Battle of Blades tournament is real old school. They don't go for the randomly generated maps, or anything like that, like some of these newer games do for more "dynamic" gameplay. No, the people that run it love straight up match play. There is a lot of debate about it, since that puts tanks and strength builds at a huge advantage, but it doesn't bother me none. I chose this build, so I shouldn't complain whenever a battlefield is to my disadvantage; after all, it was _my_ decision. Anyway, back to the match play; they set it up in an old school coliseum, just like the day of the Romans. Nothing fancy, just a huge building, built in a circle, with a ring in the middle. On the plus side, it's a pretty large ring, so I can move around quite a bit, which is part of my plan of attack.

The tournament, to my disappointment, is being held in the south this time around, so that means it's going to be in the middle of the desert. Not really my cup of tea, but it is what it is. The town it is being held in is called Kharidia. The tournament jumps from zone to zone each year to spice it up a little bit. Since it's always a straight up battle, the only real variable is the difference in climate. Since it's in the desert, its going to be hot. Real hot. Which might not seem like a big deal, but it can certainly factor into a match.

* * *

"Damn.." I cursed under my breath as I suddenly picked up on the trace of my targets. My babbling thoughts almost made me miss them.

With my eagle eye skill, I was able to make out the outlines of four players. Good, so it looks like Holt isn't with them. That's good on two levels: one, I don't like him, and two, I'm not sure of his fighting style or skill level, so him not being in the party removes a big variable. They were walking at a pretty slow pace, and were closing in on my ambush zone. I don't know if it was because the forest was so quiet at night, or what, but I could clearly hear Tyler's obnoxious voice carrying to my ears.

"You guys are so lame, I totally owned that guy, he didn't stand a chance!" Tyler's voice bellowed.

As they approached, I was able to pick out more voices, "You only 'owned' him because my ax has a stun affect after a full hit like that. He couldn't of dodged your attack even if he wanted to."

"Nice to know..." I mumbled to myself. I may know who was in the party, and what kind of weapons they used, but I hadn't seen them in actual combat, so their skills were still widely unknown to me.

"Yeah, Tyler, stop trying to hog all the credit!" a third voice pierced through the night, followed by a hollow 'clank' of someone hitting metal. My guess is it was a love tap on Tyler's armour.

There chatter and laughter continued as they came into view. They were close enough at this point that I could make out weapons and some features. Looks like they are walking in pairs, kind of an odd formation, but I guess they aren't really expecting trouble right now. The front left was Tyler for sure, I could easily make out that giant sword of his strapped across his back. Following behind him was a bulky character, looked to have a large battle ax on his back, so that had to be Justin. So if that's Justin, the one walking next to Tyler should be Steven, the bulk of darkness on his back seemed sized appropriately for a sword and shield user. That means the back right is Megan; she's a lancer, I'm actually quite curious to see how good she is.

"Alright.." I whispered to myself and prepared to descend.

I crouched slightly on the branch, aiming my body in the direction of the ambush zone, where the players currently were. With a push off with just enough force, I launched myself into the air. Good, it was a perfect trajectory. I had practiced this leap a few times earlier to get a feel for how hard I should push off. My cloak flapped and flailed around as the wind whipped past me, if they were paying attention, they could've easily heard it. My landing was perfect, about ten yards behind the group.

Going with my momentum, I took my landing into a crouching position, leaning forward toward the targets. Simultaneously, I launched myself from the ground with all of the strength in my legs while reaching behind me for the hilt of my knives. It would be nice if I could of used my materialized knives, but these would have to do for now, as I needed the cloak to conceal my identity. I flew at them quickly and silently, this first attack was just meant to startle them. The first target was the ax wielder, then I would shift slightly over to the left and give the lancer a love tap, then I would proceed through the front row, repeating my attack on both of them. My blades were fully extended at the exact moment I reached the two in the back, I shot through them like a pinball on steroids, just nicking each of them in the shoulder with my knives.

Not even a second had passed and I was already in front of the group. Each of their reactions appeared to be happening in slow motion, each of them turning around, oddly enough. By the time they completed their turn around, I was already in front of the group, which meant their backs were to me once again.

"What the fuck was that?!" Tyler blurted out, drawing his heavy sword. The others quickly armed themselves too, looking around, still in the wrong direction.

"I don't know, it didn't take much health though," Justin blurted out as he and the others continued their desperate search, not one of them thinking to turn around.

I guess I should be them a bit of a hint…

"Ehem..."

I cleared my throat loudly, causing them to finally flip around, facing me.

"What the hell? Who the hell are you?!" Steven was losing his cool quickly as he trembled behind the sword in his right hand, and kite style shield in his left.

I didn't offer them a reply. I simply crouched, then shot toward them again as fast as I could. My horizontal slash landed across Tyler's right cheek, it wasn't too deep, but it would be enough to startle him. His weapon's weakness was speed, and that showed as he barely moved it from its position by the time my attack landed. At the end of my attack, I landed in the center of the group. The next attack would come from the lancer or swordsman, as those two are going to have the quickest attacks. I purged my mind of all the needless thoughts, and focused sorely on this battle.

The lancer; my eyes shot slightly to the left as I saw the incoming stab attack from the long, skinny lance. The tip was cut into a diamond shape, making it effective at both stabs and slashes. So she's more of a speed based lancer, then. I didn't even give the order to my muscles to move, but by the time the lance was near me I was airborne, directly over it. I caught the shock in her face out of the corner of my eye as I landed directly on top of the lance, pounding it into the ground. I shot up the pole as fast as I could, landing a full knee into the poor girls face. Regardless of my strength stat, the amount of momentum I had on my side would make sure she felt that.

I landed gracefully on my feet as the girl fell backwards and onto her butt, barely keeping her grip on the lance. The next attack would come from behind me. I sensed the unskilled charge of Steven, perhaps angry over my kneeing of the poor girl in the face. His shield was thrown out wide, offering him no protection, and his sword was coming down diagonally in a slash attack. A simple side step to the right was more than enough to get myself out of harms way of the reckless slash. His eyes went as wide as golf balls as he saw me dodge his attack. I wasted no time landing a fully clenched fist onto his right cheek with my left hand. It wasn't powerful, but his unbalanced attack only needed a little nudge for him to go stumbling forward and, ultimately, falling on to his face.

Next would be…

"Gah!"

My eyes shot wide as I realized the next attack was coming in unison.

The remaining two, Tyler and Justin, must be more experienced in combat than the other two. While I was busy attacking the others, just in those couple of seconds, they formulated a plan and were executing it. Tyler was coming in hard horizontally while Justin was slamming down with his giant battle ax from the top, and I was stuck right in the middle. I had to trust my gut on this one. I pushed off the ground while dipping forward, sending myself into a tight front flip. Tyler's blade whizzed by underneath me, just barely clearing both my face and feet, but it wasn't over yet, I just hope my flip was fast enough.

My feet landed on the ground a mere inches on the other side of Tyler's blade, that one was safely dodged; however, I still had a battle ax getting ready to chomp down on me. Toward the end of my flip, I had positioned my left blade accordingly for my landing, good thing too, cause as soon as I landed I heard the distinct _clink_ of two weapons meeting. As that noise registered in my brain, I was already initializing my deflection. My arm shot inwards from the giant ax's momentum, but the blade was at the exact right angle, and had the right amount of force, to cause the ax to come crashing into the ground right next to me. The ground shattered from the impact, and to think, that was almost my noggin.

A swift turn with my momentum was all that was needed to face myself to Tyler's backside, the momentum from his swipe exposed his back. I leaped at him, landing both of my feet in the square of his back. Next, I would use him as a launching pad. I kicked off him with all of my might, aiming myself toward Justin. The leap was a lot slower than I would've liked, since poor Tyler absorbed a lot of my energy, but I was still going fast enough to beat the strength first ax wielder. I shot over his right shoulder, digging my knife into the side of his neck as I flew past him. I tumbled forward upon landing, driving my feet into the ground soonest I could to get myself turned back toward my targets. Coincidentally, that was right about the time I heard Tyler shoot out a curse as he landed on top of Steven, who shouted out equal curses.

If this fight was serious, I could've easily landed multiple blows on each of my four opponents. Being a speed type, it wouldn't of done a ton of damage, but it still would've hurt them. Though, I guess I can't give myself too much credit, as this is quite the dysfunctional party. I mean, there teamwork is quite awful.

"What in the actual fuck?" Tyler stumbled to his feet, grabbing his sword off of the ground, "Why the hell are you attacking us, asshole?"

"He's not just attacking us..." Justin yanked the giant ax out of the ground, turning toward me in a battle ready position before finishing, "...He's toying with us. He could've easily done ten times the amount of damage."

I took this slight hesitation in the battle to look over my opponents. Justin looked just as beefy in here as he did in the real world, the most obvious difference was his real world scruff turned into a full blown Gandalf beard in the game. I could of sworn he was paler in the real world too, but I did only meet him once, so who knows. His beard and hair were both overflowing, resting upon the metal plating that made up his armour. It was a dull silver color, which meant that it wasn't anything too special or high end. Now that I could see him and Tyler next to each other, they must have similar taste, as his armour almost exactly matched Tyler's, go figure.

Steven's appearance in this game, however, was tremendously different. For one, he ditched the glasses, and made his face look a whole lot more mature. His avatar's black hair was slicked back in a tight, small ponytail. Honestly, his look reminded me of a certain samurai from an old school cartoon. His armour looked to be of similar quality as the others, except his had a more lighter build to it. Whereas Tyler and Justin's armour was more bulky and covered more, Steven had chosen armour that was lighter and offered less coverage. It makes sense, as those heavy armour plates have pretty significant speed penalties.

Lastly we have Megan, who was still on the ground at this point. I almost had to divert my eyes when I looked at her. Her armour plated skirt was riding up pretty high, showing off a lot of leg. Oh wait, that's not armour plating, that's dragon scale. Silver dragon scale to be exact. Which means, yeah, her chest plate was made of the same material, as well as her arm guards. Dragon armour was meant to be high end range armour, but a lot of speed builds, myself included, were attracted to it for it's lightness. Unfortunately, silver dragon scale armour wasn't that hight end...at all. It's probably in the value range just below the armour of the other three, just to give you a comparison.

I was so distracted by her armour that I almost missed getting a look at her face. I don't know how I could miss it, though. Her real world, wavy, brown hair was replaced bright pink hair. It was shorter than in real life, but just barely. The ends of her hair were all curled outward to give it a kind of spiky, wild effect. I guess if you are going to go with pink hair, you might as well go with a crazy hair style too. I made note to notice that she did not carry over her freckles to the game; in fact, her whole face looked more...sharp. Like she was trying to make herself look like an assertive, business woman or something. At least, that's the impression I got.

Right on cue at the end of my studying, Megan got to her feet, practically boiling with anger, "Why don't you come over her and try kneeing me in the face again, bastard?!"

Steven wearily got to his feet, then shook his head rapidly as if he was trying to straighten out his thoughts or something. "Let's get him, guys," he glared at me, seriousness taking over his expression.

"He's mineeeeee!"

Megan shot at me with quite impressive speed; however, I'm still faster. It's not such a good strategy to go one on one with an opponent that just single-handedly dismantled your party.

She planted her foot in front of me, shooting her lance straight forward in another thrust attack, but this time she aimed at a higher angle. So my jumping on her lance was still in her mind then, that thought alone was influencing her fighting. I slid to the left, the piercing lance shot through, hitting nothing but air. She wasn't done yet, as soon as the lance reached the peak of its thrust, she swiped it toward me in a slashing attack. Not a bad combination of attacks, but I mockingly back-flipped over the lance, landing right beside her. Unable to stop the momentum of her spear in time, I decided to give her a nice elbow check to the face, just to get her really pissed.

Her head flinched back with the blow, now she was really steaming. She continued with her lance's momentum, pulling it into her body as she twirled to attack as fast as possible. I rotated in the opposite direction, lifting my knife to her target, my chest, in anticipation for the coming attack. The attack had a good amount of speed to it, it's just unfortunate for her that it's no match for me. Her lance's tip connected with my knife, then shot passed me as I deflected it away. There was no way she would be able to stop herself from falling forward. I lightly sliced my knife through her side as she went passed me, her eyes wide in shock.

As expected, the others were rushing to her defense. My eyes focused on the rushing three: Justin coming at me from the left, Tyler in the center, and Steven on the right.

"Don't take your eyes off me, bastard!" Megan shouted.

I honestly didn't expect a kick, but luckily I was able to quickly side step to the left and avoid it. I glanced back to see her smirk. So her plan was to distract me long enough for one of the three, most likely Justin, to come in for an attack. Good plan, except...I leaped straight up from where I was, pulling my feet into my body as a sweeping ax flew underneath them, all the while keeping eye contact with Megan. Her smear of confidence quickly vanished from her face. I might not of anticipated the kick, but once done, I figured out the plan. Judging by the last attack, I didn't think Justin would come over the top again. I assumed he would come for the side swipe attack, that had a more chance of landing the hit; therefore, a simple jump was all that was in order.

As a sort of bonus for me, one of the two miscalculated, which ended up with Megan's leg getting caught by the giant ax. The sweeping attack shot bursts of air all around, and after making contact with it, sent the lower half of Megan's leg shattering into oblivion. I went to go for the easiest next attack, the wide open Justin, a quick slash to the side should be more than enough. However, I didn't expect Steven to shoot across with his shield as a guard, instead of the smooth slice of my blade cutting through Justin's side, I received a _clang_ of feedback from my knife striking the shield. He had made an incredible, and desperate, leap in order to block my attack, but his momentum would take him away from me, making him not a concern for an attack.

That just leaves Tyler available, and he surely wasn't going to miss this chance. I followed the momentum of my knife deflecting of the shield, twirling around, and much like I deflected the battle ax's vertical strike, was able to connect my knife with Tyler's downward strike and send it off target into the ground. At the end of my motion, I leaped back to gain some distance between my opponents and myself.

"Dammit!" Tyler cursed as he pulled his sword from the earth.

"Are you alright?" Justin went to the aid of Megan, who was even more enraged.

"Does this look alright?!" She shouted, pointing at her leg, or lack there of, "Why don't you watch where you are swinging that damn thing!"

"You shouldn't have left your leg extended!" Justin barked back.

"You just going to keep attacking us for no reason?" Steven asked as he recovered from his blocking move and stood next to Tyler.

I couldn't help but grin, it was kind of fun playing the bad guy. Not until after Megan finally pushed Justin away, telling him to go, "kill his ass," did I resume my attack. Now it was three against one.

The battle progressed in much of the similar manner for the next few minutes. Justin tried to take a more lead role as a tank, with the other two attacking when they could. Despite forming, kind of, a strategy, after about five minutes Justin was out. He stepped back out of the battle as soon as his HP hit the red zone. I was in the midst of dodging and blocking a barrage of attacks from Steven when I noticed that Tyler had backed off. He appeared to be fumbling around with his menu, virtual sweat pouring down his face.

Just then, a bright red circle popped up in front of me, it was a message notification. The shock of its appearance threw me off. Steven did his best to seize the opportunity, but his blade only barely nicked my cloak as I managed to pull back and dodge the slice of his sword. I leaped back, withdrawing from the battle with Steven. I shot a glance at Tyler again, shock and suspicion had shot across his face. He wouldn't of been able to see the notification pop up, but it was obvious that something popped up in my view, causing me to flinch, and then bail out of the battle.

Under normal circumstances, a message wouldn't pop up when a user was in battle, for the very reason that just happened to me. It was a distraction. However, friends are able to send emergency notifications that reach the recipient no matter what. That was exactly what Tyler had just done, he had sent me an emergency message, most likely asking for assistance. He had to of done it out of desperation, knowing it was a long shot since he had no idea where in this world I was.

Tyler stared questioningly at me, as if he didn't trust his own eyes. The evidence was there. I mean, it could of been a coincidence, but that was unlikely.

"Nick?..." He spoke out, just barely louder than a whisper.

Dammit. What do I do now? I looked over the situation. They all looked pretty wiped out from this battle, and testing my skills further on them probably wouldn't give me much reward. Justin and Megan were the worst off, I mean Megan was missing half a leg and Justin was pretty beat to hell. Tyler and Steven's HP were both down in the yellow. Maybe now was a good time to give up on this and let the cat out of the bag.

I stood up straight from my slightly crouched, fighting stance, flipping my hood back, revealing my face. They still wouldn't be able to read my name or anything, but I'm certain at least Tyler would be able to pick out my facial features.

"Long time, no see," I shot a half smile over at the worn out party, all of there mouths agape.

After a long pause, Megan was the first to speak up, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Man, her personality in this game is like a complete one-eighty to the one I know in the real world.

"Oh, thank god," Justin collapsed on the ground, finally able to put his body and mind at ease.

Tyler and I slowly walked toward each other. As I walked, I realized I was still holding onto my knives, so I swiftly placed them back in their sheaths behind me. It wasn't long before we were standing in front of each other, neither of us had said a word, which was kind of awkward.

Tyler looked down, giving out a big huff, then looked back up at me, pointing his finger into my chest, "You're quite the asshole, you know that?"

I chuckled, rather uncomfortably, I didn't really know if he was joking around or if he was actually serious. "Sorry, guys," I looked around Tyler at all of them, "I wanted to get a sense for my skill level, since it's been a while for me."

"Been a while? What are you talking about? Have you not been playing AO?" Steven shot me a questioning glance as he put his weapon and shield away.

Crap. I forgot. Jen and Tyler were the only two that were aware of what I've been up to while I was in AO lately. "Uh..." I scratched the back of my head rather uncomfortably, "You see..."

Tyler folded his arms in front of him, "You just kicked their asses, the least you could do is fill them in on the situation."

I gave out a sigh, "Alright, I'll just start at the beginning..."

* * *

I didn't go into as much detail as I did whenever I told Tyler and Jen the story, in fact, I made sure to leave out some parts especially, but overall I was pretty thorough. Once I got everyone caught up on the same level as Tyler, I transitioned into the more recent news. I told them about how I just completed my training, about the cloak that I'm wearing and it's special abilities, and also about the quests and stuff that I'd done over the past couple days to try and test my skills. "...So I guess I ended up using you guys as sort of guinea pigs, so sorry about that," I gave out a chuckle at the end.

"I was wondering why I couldn't identify you, but that sums it up..." Tyler whispered as he picked at a piece of my cloak, inspecting it. The others remained silent, trying to process all of the information that they had just been told.

"So..." Justin spoke up first, "...there's magic in this game, except it's a unique talent, and you got it..."

I gave him a half-hearted nod and shoulder shrug to signify _yeah, kinda._

"Lucky bastard..." Steven cursed under his breath.

"So what can you do?" Megan was still giving me an evil glare, I guess she was taking the knee and elbow to the face to heart.

"Well, at this point, the two skills that I've mastered under the talent are _ice spear and materialization_. The former is an ice projectile, and the latter lets me create objects, like my knives."

Tyler shook himself out of the trance he was in over the cloak, then waved a hand at me, "So you going to take that cloak off and let us see, or nah?"

"I second!" Justin boasted.

"Yeah!" Steven's eyes lit up.

"Whatever..." Megan tried to look unimpressed, but couldn't peel her eyes away from me.

"Uh...sure," I gripped the left side of the cloak with my right hand, and in a single motion tossed it off to the side of me. That was when my skin practically came to life. The glowing, ice blue etchings illuminated themselves in my skin, appearing all over my body. The reaction I got was more jaw drops from all four of them, as expected.

Just to show off a little bit, and make myself feel good, I held out my right hand in front of me, making a gripping motion. The four watched in awe as a shining, blue-white knife etched itself into existence out of thin air. Even in the darkness of night, with just the little light from the moon, the blade sparkled.

"Holy shit..." Justin whispered underneath his breath.

"Dude!" Steven got really excited, "You look wicked!"

"You look kinda creepy...especially with those eyes..." Megan mumbled.

"They aren't creepy..." Tyler peered into my eyes, inspecting them, "They look pretty bad ass."

The last appearance change that happened to me, and quite frankly I didn't even notice it until the other day, was my eye color changed. Of course, you can probably guess what they look like. Yup, ice blue. So not only did the markings take over my face, to my dismay, but it also changed my eye color. I didn't really mind the eye color though, it looked pretty bad ass. Luckily for me, it was yet another thing that the cloak concealed. Maybe one day I'll learn why the developers made an appearance change a requirement of being an elementalist...

"Wait a minute," it would appear that a thought just struck Justin, "cloaks are notorious for having speed and agility penalties..." He trailed off as he stared at me.

"Yeah...it cuts my speed down by about 20% actually...it's really annoying..."

"So..." Steven tried to put words together "...you're telling me you just kicked our asses...and you weren't even at full strength..."

After a momentary pause, Tyler burst out laughing into the silence, "That's Nicholas for you," he said between gasps of air. He was the only one that found that humorous.

I noticed that Megan was being quiet, which from what I could tell from this world version of her, that's not exactly normal. I walked over and knelt down next to her as the other three started getting into a heated debate over _why_ they got their assess kicked.

"You okay?"

She looked up at me questioningly, not in anger, but more like in frustration, "I thought that my speed was pretty good in this game, in fact, I've even been told that by more than a few players. To think...I was no match for you...and you weren't even at full strength..."

I really didn't know how to counter that. I mean, she's right. Her speed was impressive, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. So how do I spin what I'm thinking into a more positive tone? Should I tell her to just keep working at it? Should I tell her that it just takes time? In all honesty, I don't even recall when I became the player I am right now. Even before this whole ice elementalist business, my speed was on par with some of the fastest in the game. Maybe it has something to do with my mind working fast or something, hell, I don't know.

I didn't even really expect the words that came out of my mouth, they just sort of, came out. "You shouldn't be frustrated by your lack of power in this world...for every ounce of power you gain in this world...you lose that in the other one..."

Wow, that was unexpectedly deep. Great, now she's going to think I'm hitting on her or pitying her. Of course, the reaction I received was, again, not what I was expecting. She didn't say anything, she just looked at me with a particular expression. Not frustration, not envy. It was a look of concern. She must of pieced together that if I'm this powerful in this world, I'm obviously not doing so hot in the other world, at least by my words.

I decided it was best to leave this be. I didn't want to bring any unwanted emotions into this world, so I invited myself into the heated debate that was happening behind me, "It was more of your strategy than anything."

"Yeah! Because some people don't know teamwork!" Steven blasted Tyler.

"Teamwork? Who wailed at him with an atrocious slash attack that left you wide open?!"

"I made up for it when I protected Justin!"

"All of our teamwork was bad," was Justin's single input as he looked very annoyed at the other two going back and forth.

I picked my cloak up off the ground and threw it on, concealing every clue that I had a unique talent at my disposal. I decided I would have a nice laugh and add fuel to the fire, "Maybe I should have ambushed an actual party..."

"What did you say?!" Justin, Steven, and Tyler yelled at me in unison.

"I mean, you guys are pretty dysfunctional..," I smirked at them.

Tyler motioned for the other two to be quiet with their bickering as he shot a side smirk at me, "You hear that guys? Looks like we need to do a little hunting to prove to Mr. Big Shot here that we can kick some ass."

"Awww yeah! Let's go!" Justin excitedly threw his fist in the air.

"Excuse me, but I can't exactly fight like this," Megan said from the ground.

"Damn, I forgot about you..." Tyler rubbed his chin, his usually motion for when he was thinking.

"We can just leave her," I played, and in return got a sharp glance from the girl on the ground, "I'm kidding! Let's go to the nearest town, get her healed up, and then we can go out hunting."

"Yeah...I guess that's our only option...Alright!" Tyler thrust his hand into the sky, "That's the plan, lets go!"

* * *

A/N: Hey there! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter. This chapter we really get a sense for the increasing difference of Nick in the real world, and the one in Athalia. I wanted to try and go into more detail on the fight scene, at least at the beginning, so sorry if it seemed a little tedious. I wanted to convey just how powerful Nick has become, and I think it turned out quite well. Its nice to see some old characters back in the game as well! So what is in store for our main character next? Who knows! Thanks for reading!


	16. Double, Friend Date (Part 1)

Damn, I have a lot to do today. I silently suppressed my desire to scream as I studied the list of duties I had to get done this shift. I found the piece of paper crudely stuck to the time clock. It looked like the day manager today, Mark, had a hell of a time. His hand writing was quite sporadic and sloppy, proving that he was in a hurry even when writing this. The list went on and on: do this, do that, make sure this gets done, this _has_ to be done before you leave today, etc.

I took a deep breath, then exhaled to try and prevent the oncoming stress. Although all that did was fill my lungs with the strange, moist air that was our stock room. Seriously, if you have never been in the back of a store, it's quite the experience. Our stock room, in particular, had a very peculiar odor, one that couldn't exactly be pinpointed, but somehow perfectly complimented the dull, cold, concrete floor. Yeah, out front the floor is all white, nice, and shiny, but back here it's a dull grey. Whenever your skin happened to meet with it, you would find yourself conflicted over whether it was just cold or actually wet. Take that, and pair it with all of the scents of all of the products shoved into every nook and cranny, and you have your smell.

My anxiety was starting to kick in already, and I wasn't even on the clock yet. Normally I would just chill out in the break room, mentally preparing myself for the shift to come until I had to clock in, but today, since I knew how much I had to do, and in four hours, no less, I just stood there, staring at the clock. We could clock in as early as seven minutes before the actual start of our shift, and I planned on doing just that. Sure enough, as soon as that mark popped up on the dull, digital timer, I smashed the clock in button and swiped my badge. The chirping sound of a beep the machine gave me let me know that I was now on the clock.

"Alright..." I mumbled to myself as I picked my first task.

* * *

You've got to be kidding me. I tried to cover up my disgust as my eyes drifted over to the clock to find that it had already been three hours. I'm not even halfway through the list yet and my shift is almost over!If anyone could see my face right now, they would easily be able to read my frustration, which wasn't exactly good for customer service. Good thing I'm in the back at the moment.

It amazed me how time works. When you don't have much to do, the day seems to drag on forever, but as soon as you have a lot to do, time all of a sudden decides to go by at super sonic speed. I tried to push any further negative thoughts out of my mind and just focus on the task at hand. I had just finished maneuvering pallets around like a puzzle in order to get to the one I needed, now it was time to take it out on to the floor and get everything set up…

 _"Hey Nick."_

I was snapped out of my work daze by a scratchy, man's voice coming from the little radio that was attached to my waste. I picked it up, holding down the talk button, and replied with a very unenthusiastic, _"Yeah?"._

 _"You have a couple of visitors up here asking for you, what should I tell them?"_

Really? Today of all days? I never have visitors at work, but the one day I'm busy as all hell suddenly someone wants to see me? Who the hell could it be? I threw a silent curse at myself after that last question, as it was fairly obvious it had to be Tyler. Then a thought occurred to me, _"Visitors? Plural?"_

 _"Yeah, three of 'em. Look man, I'm busy, I'm sending them back to you. Meet them out front."_

You know, you can be a real dick, man. That's what I wanted to say. I didn't exactly appreciate his tone there. Of course, I'd be pissed to if I were busy and some people were bothering me looking for a coworker. So I guess I can let it slide. I parked the pallet off to the side, out of the way, just before the set of double doors that separated the front and back of the store. By the time I pushed through them, I could make out three familiar figures walking down the isle right for me. Tyler, Mia, and Rachel.

What the hell are all three of them doing here?Was the only thing that crossed my mind as I walked to meet them.

"Heya, buddy!" Tyler gave me a cheerful grin.

"Hey.." I had so much work shit on my mind at the moment it was kind of hard to get excited about seeing friends; or, I guess it would be friend and two acquaintances, rather.

"Well that's not a very enthusiastic attitude," Mia gave me her best stink eye, "We came all this way to see you, the least you could do is smile!" She pointed to her cheeks at the end as she put on a fake, cheesy smile.

She was right. I mean, it was kind of a slap in the face to them, whatever their reason was for visiting me. I should probably be more grateful, but I was in no mood for playful banter. After one sentence I was already having to force myself to not have an annoyed look on my face. If I had to fight just to keep that away, how in the hell was I supposed to smile? The sad thing is, this is happening to me more and more lately. It's like I'm slowly forgetting how to interact with people...or at least...in this world I am…

"Anyway!" Tyler shot through the awkward silence that had grasped our conversation, "We are here for a reason, if that's what you are wondering," he gave me a wink, then nudged his head in the direction of Rachel.

I was about to give him a face that was a combination of confusion and disgust, but my expression immediately dropped when my eyes met Rachel's. The poor girl was a nervous wreck. She was practically shaking as she stood in front of me. Her hands were hiding underneath her deep red sweater that seemed a little too large for her, but hey, maybe that's the "style" nowadays. I don't think her legs could get any closer to each other, she had them locked together. It was at this point that I noticed she was wearing leggings, and then put two and two together. The over sized top with leggings was a popular style choice of women. I figured I might as well get the complete picture, glancing down at her feet to find a pair of black sneakers. Well that's odd, girls usually have fancy boots or something to go along with those outfits.

"Um..." her face was beet red as she looked down, trying to hide her face.

"Yeah?.." Wow, that came out wrong. It was supposed to be more of a _it's okay, you can tell me_ kind of "yeah", but instead it came out as _speak up, I'm busy_.

"Sorry!" She blurted out in an immediate response, "I..I...I wanted to ask you something..."

Man, just that short sentence looked like it took her entire breath away. Can't say I'm a stranger to that feeling, I felt like that a lot of times whenever I tried to talk to…

"GAH!" I shook my head furiously to get Jen's image out of my head, in the process startling the poor girl in front of me. I immediately threw up my hands, "Sorry! I was just...Uh…" Now it was my turn to have my breath taken away.

I sucked in a deep breath and gathered my nerves, "What were you wanting to ask me?"

"Oh," she had been completely derailed by my sudden flailing that she looked like she temporary forgot that she was going to ask something, "I wanted to...I wanted to know...if you..might be.."

"SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!" A voice came from a couple of isles over.

We both instinctively turned our heads to the direction of the shouter to find Mia and Tyler peaking around the corner of an isle, both of their faces red with guilt. I didn't even notice that they had parted ways with Rachel and myself, but I guess the curiosity of whatever Rachel was going to ask was too much for them to stay away from. After being caught, they slowly retreated back into the isle, out of sight.

I was just about to turn back to Rachel whenever Tyler's head popped back out, "Sorry about that, please continue, and, if you could, speak up a little bit."

I gave him my best eat shit look along with Rachel, who's face went from trembling and fearful to spitting daggers in a split second.

"Anyway," I finally turned back to Rachel, and her to me, "please continue."

I winced with a certain, unpleasant, flashback as she sucked in a huge breath and exhaled, much like she did that night at the party before making her dare. "I wanted to know if you would like to have dinner with me..." She started off loud and confident, but trailed off to almost mute at the end, in fact, I didn't even catch the end.

"Sorry, like to have what exactly?" I leaned in and took a couple steps toward the nervous girl.

"Dinner," she punched out, then followed it up with, "with me," in much the same manner.

Dinner? With her? My work filled mind finally connected the dots and the realization that she was asking me out set in. I honestly couldn't hide the shock on my face.

This was going to be an interesting decision. I couldn't exactly say yes and go out with this poor girl, for multiple reasons. First and foremost, I've found that lately in this world I can barely stand other people anymore. It's a challenge to be with Tyler for long periods of time, and I know him pretty well. If I were to go out with this girl, I wouldn't be able to offer her anything. We would most likely just sit there, at the dinner table, in awkward silence. Her too nervous to talk to me, and me unwilling to force myself to communicate with her.

My mind then shifted thoughts. Even if I did agree to go out with her, it wouldn't be fair to her. My heart might as well be frozen solid at this point, there was no way she was going to thaw it out. I would just be filling her with false hope. I would be setting her up for failure. Luring her into the idea that I wanted to go on a date with her only to not even give her a chance. That would be worse than telling her no, in fact, that would be flat out cruel.

My mind then came to an abrupt stop. A single, pressing question filled it.

"Why?" my mouth muttered, unfortunately loud enough for her to hear.

That...was not supposed to be out loud. My head was now filled with red alert alarms and signs, screaming at myself for what I had just done. That was worse than either of the other options! You can't ask someone why they are asking you out?! That's like slapping them in the face with a smelly fish! What the hell is wrong with you?!

"Well..." she paused, gathering her thoughts, "I think that you are really cute...and nice...and I found myself thinking, after I met you at the party, that I would like to get to know you better..."

Her voice was soft and sincere. Honestly, if I could hear an angel's voice, that was what it would sound like. The pleasant, tenderness of her tone soothed my ears. As pleasing as it may be, there was no way I could agree to go out with her. Wait a minute…is this like a friend date, or a date date? Maybe I'm just overreacting. She could just want to go out to dinner as friends. It's a possibility.

"I appreciate that," the words slipped out of my mouth softly, barely more than a whisper, "I don't want to be rude, but I want to clarify something," she nodded, waiting for me to continue, "Are you asking to, like, hang out over dinner? Or would this be like a date...date."

Wow, saying the word twice in a row like that sounds even dumber when it's not a thought. I studied her reaction, which, from her expression, she seemed to be in disbelief that I didn't get what she meant. Her eyes fluttered around as she tried to come up with a response to my question. Maybe that was a mistake to ask, I mean, if you think about it, you don't ask a friend to "have dinner", you say "let's hang out and get some food", or something like that. Wow, coming to that sudden realization, my question really did sound dumb.

"Sorr-"

"ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID?!" came another scream from a couple of isles over, but this time Mia made no attempt to hide herself. She was completely out in the open, her fists freely waving at me in an assaulting manner.

Rachel then let out a short chuckle, kind of in between a laugh you tried desperately to keep in, and a nervous "ha ha." In response, between the cute little chuckle and the mad, ape-like posture Mia was in as she angrily waved her fists at me, I couldn't help but smile.

"A date...date," she let out softly, looking up at me with almost puppy eyes, red flush still very present across her cheeks.

Even with the mood taking on a lighter setting, I couldn't possibly agree. The reasons that went through my mind earlier were still perfectly valid. My smirk slowly faded away as I prepared my response, she seemed to sense the coming denial, as her facial expression did the same.

"Look...I-"

"You know it's a double date, right?" Tyler came out of hiding and approached us with a calm tone, trying to smooth over the fact that I was about to reject her.

"Huh?" Rachel and I said in unison as we stared at the ginger. Based on Rachel's reaction, it was obviously not supposed to be a double date.

"Yeah!" He pointed behind him at Mia, who had since calmed down a little, but was still glaring me down, "I wanted to take that foxy lady out on a nice date, but I was a little too nervous to just straight up ask, so I suggested that we all go out on a double, friend date."

He seemed so confident that I wouldn't be able to see through his obvious lie. Really, man? If you were too nervous to ask Mia out you wouldn't openly admit it in front of her, let alone call her "foxy". This had to go down in history as one of the worse cover ups in the history of cover ups.

Denying Rachel was one thing. Sure, I was going to feel bad about telling the poor girl no, after all of her trouble, but something within my gut just couldn't say no to Tyler. He was my friend, best friend, in fact. He was sticking out the storm that was raging inside of me. There was no way I could say no to him, even if all I wanted was to be alone. I think he caught on to that very fact in this moment as he gave me a cheesy, side smirk as if to mark his victory.

I let out a deep breath, well kind of a mix between a deep breath and a sigh.

"Sure," I said looking at Rachel, not Tyler.

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. Even if it was a make-shift, double "friend" date, she was obviously overjoyed that I agreed to participate, and wore that all over her expression. Just what does this girl see in me? I had to wonder to myself. She sees something in me that she likes enough to want to spend time with me, to get to know me better. For some odd reason, that makes her happy. Maybe she's crazy. A girl has to be crazy to be happy to be with me, right? Anyway, for better, or for worse, I had now agreed to go on a double date. Go me.

"Alright," I looked at them all in turn, "thanks for the visit, but I have a ton of work to do. Figure out the details and let me know."

I wasn't going to wait for a response, I was already turning around to head back to work when Rachel piped up.

"Nick!"

"Yeah?" I half turned around, enough to make eye contact.

"I don't...uh..have your..." her voice slowly escaped her as she looked down at the ground.

"You can get it from him," I pointed to Tyler and gave her the best, friendliest smile I could muster, which seemed to put some light back into the girl's eyes.

"Okay," she said with a smile as I made my way through the doors.

* * *

"Fucking hell..." I leaned back in the booth away from my laptop, flipping my headphones off my head.

I had decided that while I had a little time between classes that I would hit up the café, grab a snack, and work on some code. For some reason, I couldn't get this program to work right. Naturally, I chose the booth in the farthest, back corner away from people. I liked these booths, the backs were tall enough to cover you completely so you have some sense of privacy. I kicked my feet up long ways and leaned my head back against the window.

If I kept trying while I was angry I was just going to get more pissed off and probably end up breaking my laptop. I honestly hated to admit it, but the screen in my laptop wasn't the original, I had to get it replaced after I smashed it out of momentary rage. I closed my eyes and tried to relax myself, as that was the only way anything was going to get done. Right before I was about to put my headphones back on, and let the music take me away, I heard a familiar voice, one that I was not all too thrilled to hear.

"There's a booth open over there," the voice alone was enough to stab a knife into my heart.

From overhearing their conversation after they were seated, I figured there were a total of three girls, including Jen. Being in a halfway lying position, with these tall booths, there was slim chance that she would've caught a glimpse of me, unless she can recognize me by my sneakers poking out, which I doubt.

This happened from time to time. I mean, we attended the same college, we were bound to run into each other. Every time I saw her, I made a note to remove myself as quickly as possible. I started to pack up my things when the conversation took an interesting turn…

"I still can't believe you got that on your wrist, J."

J? Are you serious? Jen isn't short enough for your microscopic brain? Anyway, based on that question it must be about the AO tattoo that Jen got on her wrist. Back when we first hung out in our "tutoring" sessions, I had noticed the newly etched ink on her wrist, which led to our conversation about AO.

"Well, you know..."

"I mean you can totally get it removed if it was an impulse thing," this voice sounded familiar, I'm fairly certain it was the Jess girl from the party.

"I'm good," Jen responded, trying to punch it out confidently.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's kind of silly if you ask me," the third, unknown voice asked.

"It's pretty cool...you guys should try it!"

"I'm good, there are better things to occupy my time," Jess sounded pretty disgusted with Jen's suggestion.

"I don't get the whole gaming thing. I mean, what's the point? There are so many better things to do. Not to mention, the time you spend on that stupid game could be used to do something actually productive, like practice," the unknown girl must be one of her teammates. Does that mean Jess is too?

"It's-"

"Besides," Jess didn't let her get more than a word in, "if we want to be a better team we need to be together as much as possible, it doesn't help that you run off to do whatever you do whenever you get the chance."

"Yeah! You should start coming to our team hangouts more!"

"I'll try to..."

"What? Do you not like spending time with us?" Jess was really backing her into a corner.

"I do!" Jen blurted out, trying to get a grip on her whits, "it's just...sometimes I can't...I have homework and stuff.."

"All of us do, and we still make time for the team. C'mon, J. If you want to be serious about being on the team, you need to put in the time, you know? Choosing a dumb ass video game over your teammates isn't right. I'm not trying to bust your balls. Just saying it like it is," Jess really was a ruthless character, going straight for the jugular.

Maybe I don't understand girls, but in my eyes, Jen should of just told them off and left. Friends don't push their opinions on to other people like that. Why is she putting up with that bullshit? The Jen I knew didn't care what anyone thought. She was a firecracker. A free spirit. She was fun, happy, beautiful...not this. Why? Why dammit?

I couldn't help but clinch my fists. I felt the onset of tears coming on from my emotions getting out of hand, and decided that it was best if I remove myself now before I really lose it. I crammed all of my belongings into my bag as fast as I possibly could, then scooted my way out of the booth. I stood up, aiming myself directly at the doorway...and there was a short figure standing directly in my way.

She had stood up at the exact moment I had, what are the chances of that? It felt like my entire world froze at that moment. As soon as my eyes recognized who it was, my body stopped. In much the same way, she stood there, frozen solid, looking back at me. Her obnoxious friend's conversation died out instantly when they noticed us.

"Ni-" she tried to say my name, but I cut her off.

"Excuse me," I willed my body to move again, walking right past her.

I didn't even get a few steps away before I heard Jess speak up, "Wasn't that the guy from..." I drowned out her voice as I distanced myself. I didn't want to hear any part of what they had to say.

I held it together. I made it out of the café, down the hall, out of the building, and to my car. I threw my bag in my back seat. As soon as my body was in the driver seat I slammed the door shut as hard as I could. I had to vent out this frustration somehow. I couldn't stop. I pounded the steering wheel. Once. Twice. Three Times. I lost count.

Why? Why does it hurt so much? How can one person trigger such emotion within me? Why can't I overcome it? Why? Dammit, why?! Why does my heart hurt whenever I see her, hear her voice, or think about her? "This is so fucking stupid!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I propped my head up against my arm as the tears poured from my eyes. If anyone was anywhere near me for all of that, they had to think I was some sort of psychopath. I had to pull myself together, I still had class to go to. The only reason I came to my car was because it was the only place on campus I could get some real privacy. The only place I could vent my anger.

I had to of sat in the car for twenty minutes trying to get myself under control. I finally was able to wipe the tears away and the puffiness in my face somewhat faded out. I took a couple, consecutive deep breaths as I prepared to get out of my car. "You got this. You can do this. You're fine. C'mon," I tried to coach myself up.

As if once wasn't enough, after getting out of the car, there she was, her face filled with concern as she stared into my eyes. I couldn't help but look down out of her gaze. Her black cardigan, that made its way down to about the middle of her thigh, swayed in the breeze. A tight, pink shirt showed of the curves of her body, below that were a pair of black, skinny jeans that, again, perfectly complimented her toned, athletic legs. Even amidst pain and agony, my heart always fluttered at the very sight of her beauty. It was always just for a moment, but in that moment, I forgot all the pain, and just took in the beloved sight.

"Nick," her heavenly voice met my ears, even as she was addressing me, I couldn't look up, "I want to talk to you."

I swallowed the emotions that came up, "We don't have anything to-"

"Yes, we do," her assertiveness was back in her voice, a trait that was clearly missing earlier with her "friends".

I took a long, long pause. I wasn't exactly thinking about how to respond, my mind was just, sort of, numb. It didn't want to think about anything. If it did, all that would come would be pain. She stood there, patiently awaiting my response. After far too long, I gave her the answer she wanted.

"Alright..."

* * *

Man, we really did choose one hell of a day to have this double date. It was the Friday before the start of the Battle of Blades, and here the four of us sat in a local restaurant. I guess it couldn't be helped, we all lead busy, college lives. In fact, you should have seen the size of the group message we were all in trying to plan this thing. Near the end, I figured it just wasn't going to happen. It seemed like no matter what day or time we chose, someone was doing something. Plus we had to factor in the commute for the two girls, as they were from out of town.

In the end, this Friday was the only day available. I had specifically taken off this Friday, and the weekend to come, for the start of the tournament. Tyler was free since, well, he was basically always free. Lastly, the two girls had managed to put together enough free time to be able to drive down here and be able to stay until the next morning. So somehow, someway, this double date was planned. Honestly, I half expected someone to back out the day before. Moreover, I half expected that someone to be me.

And so, here we were, all four of us tucked into a booth, menus in front of all of our faces as we tried to decide what to order. I think I was doing alright. I wasn't holding too many conversations, but I did manage a couple. Whereas Rachel and I acted shy and awkward around each other, Tyler and Mia seemed entirely comfortable. They conversed like they had known each other for years. Luckily for Rachel and myself, they were also good about including us into their conversations, otherwise we would probably just be sitting here in awkward silence most of the time as they talked to each other.

"Totally getting the steak!" Tyler's voice boomed, I don't think anyone in the restaurant didn't hear him.

"Hmmmmm," Mia scanned over her menu, "The chicken salad is calling my name, but this salmon looks soooo good!"

"You know you want the salmon," Tyler gave her a teasing glance as he took a sip of his beverage.

She shot the same look back at him, "Fine! Guess I'm getting the salmon then, what about you, Rachel?"

"Um..." she carefully looked over her menu, "I'm going to go with the chicken alfredo, I think."

"No way," I gave out a little chuckle, looking over at the girl, "Same here."

I tried my best not to be awkward, but that definitely came out awkward, and rather uncomfortable. Sometimes I impress myself with how awkward I can be, I mean, come on, I can't even hold a normal conversation without being all stiff. She smiled at my desperate attempt to start a conversation with her, then responded with, "You have good taste, then."

"Awww, isn't that adorable," Tyler teased us, then put an arm around Mia, pulling her slightly closer to him, "You see that, Mia, they are made for each other. Ordering the same dish on the first date is proof of it."

"I agree," they both grinned way too happily at us.

I wish I could be that smooth, I thought to myself as I took a drink of my water. Without even showing a hint of shyness, Tyler had easily put his arm around Mia, not only breaking the touch barrier, but even pulling her closer to him. He did it like it was nothing. As if he had done it a thousand times. Even more shocking, Mia didn't flinch either, as if she was expecting it to happen. They were completely comfortable with each other. I was quite jealous. Not that I wanted to be that way with Rachel, per say, but just be that close with a girl in general. It must be nice.

"Oh shut up," Rachel tried to hide her blushing behind her menu.

"The real test is if we get the same salad to," I tried my best to join in on the fun.

Rachel's eyes shot over at me, even more embarrassed, "I like garden s-salad...with ranch."

"Well look at that," I glanced over at the other two before returning my gaze to Rachel, "me too."

"Boom! Destiny!" Tyler smacked the table, quite loudly too.

It was at this point that the waiter returned for our order. Tyler went first, making sure that he thoroughly explained every detail of his plate and how he wanted it cooked. I noticed, while Tyler was rattling off his order, that Rachel seemed to be more nervous than usual, which is kind of hard to do. I decided to seize the opportunity. I gently placed my hand on her leg that was closest to me, making sure I was on the lower, outside part of her thigh, then leaned in once I had her attention.

"You okay?"

"Y-Yeah...I just don't like ordering," her face was beet red as she responded to me, doing her best to keep eye contact with me.

"Gotcha," I decided to keep rolling with my seizing of opportunities, "Don't worry, I got it."

She sent me a questioning look as I pulled away from her, just as Mia finished her order. The waiter then turned his attention to Rachel, "And for you, miss?"

I raised a finger slightly to gain the attention of the waiter, a move I had seen my father do endless times whenever the waiter went for my mom's order before his. "She would like the chicken alfredo, please," I spoke with as much confidence as I could muster.

"Very good, what type of salad?"

"Garden, with ranch."

"And for you, sir?"

"I'll have the same, thank you."

The waiter wasn't even gone a few seconds before Tyler and Mia let the teasing commence. Going on and on about how that was so sweet and how we are totally made for each other. I was staring blankly at them, more or less drowning out most of it, when I felt a hand touch my leg, much like the way I had touched Rachel's. I looked over to see the girl smiling, then she mouthed the words thank you.

Without even thinking about it, my hand move over and laid on top of hers, still on my leg, and I gave her a smile and a nod. Immediately after, I realized what I had done. Breaking the touch barrier was one thing, but touching hands was certainly another. My face went white with fear and shock at my actions. I glanced over to see Rachel in much the same state, completely frozen in shock, staring at my hand atop of hers. I'm such an idiot! Obviously that had to of taken a lot for her to just touch my leg and say thank you, and I have to go and raise the bar immediately after she does that?!

Then a thought occurred to me...we are in college right? This whole freak out seems to be a little high school-ish. I mean, touching another person's hand isn't that big of a deal, right? Of course, that momentarily thought of completely rational thinking was killed, and kicked out of my brain by the sheer volume of nervous and scared thoughts.

Mia casually glanced over at us while in the midst of a conversation with Tyler, noticing our expressions, she took action immediately, "Hold on, Tyler. You two okay over there?"

The sudden question from Mia was enough to crack us out of our frozen positions. Rachel quickly retracted her hand into her lap as I crossed my arms as fast as I could. "Nope, we're good, nothing going on over here...what were you two talking about?"

Luckily for me, the dinner went on without any further incident. Rachel and I even managed to hold a couple of conversations ourselves. Somehow I managed to not doing anything dumb while eating my meal, something I was sure I was going to do. In fact, it was Tyler, not myself, that did something dumb. While momentarily putting down his silverware, he got way too into our conversation and threw his hand down toward the table, catching his fork, which was half off the plate. The result was a flipping fork, and mashed potatoes, flying a clean ten feet across the restaurant. I never laughed so hard in my life.

After we paid for the meal, we decided to head out. I didn't really have any idea what the plan was for the rest of the evening, but Tyler seemed to have everything under control, so I just tagged along. After we all piled in the car, Tyler took us to a nearby park, or at least, that was his plan. I guess he didn't know that all parks around here close at dusk, as the road leading to the parking lot was closed off, a reflective "Park Closed" sign hanging on the gate.

"Shit..." Tyler whispered to himself as he had gotten out of the running car to further inspect the gate, as if that was going to change anything.

"Great plan," I said, walking up next to him.

"Well it was..."

I looked past the the gate, which wasn't hard since it was only a couple of bright, yellow bars. There was one on either side, meeting in the middle once closed to keep cars from driving through, but a person could easily hop over it. I could see endless lights throughout the park, chasing away the darkness and revealing the beautiful scenery that the landscape had to offer.

"Guess there is only one thing to do..." I wasn't much of a troublemaker, but I certainly wasn't going to let this night end like this. I hopped over the little gate onto the other side, officially trespassing, then shot a smile back at Tyler, whose only response was to smile back.

I walked on ahead as I heard Tyler rush back to the car, turning it off, and explaining the situation to the girls.

"Are you sure it's alright?" I heard Rachel's soft voice.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Tyler shouted excitedly.

"C'mon!" Mia shouted in much the same voice, my guess would be that she was grabbing Rachel's hand and dragging her along right about now.

After catching up with me, we all set off on our adventure. There wasn't a particular destination inside the park, so we just walked around, enjoying the beauty that was nature. Somehow Rachel and I ended up behind Tyler and Mia in the walking formation. Well, I guess that wasn't really shocking; in fact, I'm almost positive that those two did it on purpose.

There wasn't much talking going on while we were walking around, but it wasn't an awkward silence, it was rather comfortable. After a little while I noticed that Tyler and Mia were quite close in front of us. Their arms were locked together, and her head was resting on his shoulder as they casually strolled. Something tells me that this wasn't the first time these two had been out. They were way too comfortable with each other. I mean, they both had that kind of personality, but still. They just seemed to enjoy each other's company.

I took a glance to my right at Rachel, who was looking around, a smile plastered on her face. It would appear she was enjoying herself too. Am I? I never really thought about it, but I guess I am enjoying myself. I had to let out a little chuckle, I couldn't believe that I was actually having a good time and didn't even notice that I was. Maybe this _is_ what I need. Maybe being surrounded by people that enjoy being with me is just what I need for this pain to…

The image of Jen filled my mind. The conversation I had with her just a few days earlier was beginning to come back to me, overtaking my mind. Rachel had turned her attention to me at my random chuckle, but her smile was somewhat faded as she looked at me. I must have been wearing my thoughts on my face. I shook my head, forcing out a smile.

I looked ahead to see that Tyler and Mia had put some distance between us and them, then noticed there was a fork in the path. I contemplated the opportunity, but as I recalled, today had been all about seizing opportunities, so why would I stop now? I reached out and grabbed Rachel's hand, whose reaction was to have her face fill with blush as she looked at me, questioningly. I nudged my head in the other direction of the path, then changed my course, pulling her along with me.

At that moment I probably should of released her hand...but I didn't. I kept her hand locked within mine as we walked. She didn't object, but she would probably be too shy to. I tried not to think too much into my actions, but after a little while I felt a tug on my hand. She had stopped walking. She looked away in shyness as I turned to her with a questioning glance.

"It's kind of uncomfortable..." She mumbled, glancing slightly down at our joined hands.

"I'm sorry," I released her hand immediately, I felt terrible that we had walked that long with her feeling that way.

"N-" she shot her arm in my direction upon my release, reading my confused glance, she decided to elaborate, "I meant the grip..."

Wait, what? I didn't really understand what she was saying. Was it the act of holding hands that was uncomfortable? Or was it… "Oh," my mind finally caught up, "Sorry, I don't have much experience in this kind of thing," I said, scratching the back of my head nervously.

She let out a completely adorable smile, then motioned for me to hold out my hand. When I did, she slowly put her hand within mine, then curled her fingers around it. I mimicked her actions, then let my hand relax, still intertwined with hers. Wow, this was more comfortable. I guess something as simple as holding hands has ways to do it properly. After that little hiccup, we started walking again.

Eventually, a vast lake came into view. The lights could only illuminate so much of the water; it slowly faded into black the further away you tried to look, at some point, in the distance, it seemed to merge with the sky. We found a bench on the lakeside and decided to take a seat there to take in the breathtaking view. Despite being near a lamp post, we could still clearly see the stars lighting up the night sky, dancing all over. This was probably the most beautiful, romantic setting I had ever experienced.

I looked down at the small space that was between Rachel and I that was occupied by our, still locked, hands. I followed her arm up to her shoulder, then neck, and then her face. I was happy to be experiencing this with someone, if only it was…

The image of Jen flooded my mind and the memories of just a short, few days earlier hit me like a hammer.

* * *

A/N: There we have it, part one of this two part chapter. I did have all of this as one chapter, but decided it would be better split up into two. So...go read part two!


	17. Double, Friend Date (Part 2)

_~Flashback~_

"So..." Jen was sitting on the love seat in her dorm room.

After she got me to agree to talk to her, she suggested that we go to her dorm room for some privacy. Since her roommate had class, it would just be the two of us. Now, as I stood here awkwardly, and she sat on the love seat looking at me, I started to feel like this wasn't the best decision. Not only was this incredibly uncomfortable, but I was also missing class. I felt a faint buzz in my pocket, it was probably Tyler wondering why I wasn't there. I fought the urge to take out my phone, this was no situation to do that.

"If you don't have anything to say, I think I'll leave..." I managed to spit out. I wanted out of this situation so badly I didn't care if that sentence hurt her feelings.

"Please don't," she looked at me with those puppy eyes that she was so good at. After a few seconds of me not leaving, she got the hint that she should start again, "Nick. What do you think was going on whenever you walked into that room?"

"I dunno..." that was obviously a stupid answer, I silently cursed at myself, then answered for real, "You guys were playing spin the bottle, I suppose."

"Yeah...It was a bunch of my teammates, I honestly don't know who all the guys were. I mean, I know their names, I just don't _know_ them, personally that is. I have class with some of th-"

"Does any of that have a point?" I cut her off.

She didn't exactly appreciate that fact, "What I'm trying to say is...it was just a dumb game."

"Do you honestly think that's the only reason I was upset?" I tried to hide my feelings, but they showed through my face in the form of an evil glare.

"Well...yeah...I mean-"

"Really?" I felt my blood starting to boil, "Stop playing stupid."

She stood up sharply, "I'm not playing stupid! You walked in on that stupid game, and before I could explain you started a fight with Jon!"

" _I_ started a fight?" My finger pointed to my chest, then I threw my hands out wide, "Are you fucking serious?"

"If you would of just-"

"What?! If I would of just left? Just left you alone with your friends? Act like I didn't fucking know you? Is that what you want?!" I couldn't contain my anger any longer, I could see tears started to form in her eyes.

"That's not what I meant!" She screamed and stomped her foot at me.

"Then what did you mean?! You sure as hell didn't want me around, or any of your damn teammates to know you were associated with me. How do you think that made me feel, huh?! You treated me like a god damn stranger!"

Tears were now pouring out of her eyes, I could hear sobs coming from her as she held her head down, trying to hide it all. What am I doing here? Did I just agree to come here so I could lose my temper and yell? Is this really right? Maybe I should leave now...No. I want to know. I want to know what is going on with her. I want...to know the truth.

"Jen..." my voice was drastically lower, less filled with anger than it was moments before, "Tell me what's going on with you...I can't understand unless you tell me..."

"I...I...I don't know...I don't know what to do anymore. I want to get along with my teammates, my friends, but when I do, I do nothing but hurt you...and Tyler...and if I try to be with you...and him...I start losing..." the sobs were really pouring out of her now as she fell to her knees on the floor.

"Why...does it have to be a choice?" I couldn't help but feel bad for her, but the fact remains that it was absurd to think that you can't be friends with different types of people. I've seen tons of groups that were totally different, but got along just fine. Friendship isn't about making a choice between this or that, it's about spending time around people that you enjoy. People that make you happy and help you through tough times.

I wanted to tell her all of this, but how could I? If I said that, it's the same as me saying that she should pick Tyler and I because her "friends" aren't her real friends. I couldn't do that. I couldn't break her like that, but then again, maybe she's already broken.

"You are all just so...so different…" she was still staring at the floor, I could see tears here and there falling from her face and hitting the carpet, "I've tried. I've tried so hard. They just can't see things the way I see them..."

"Je-"

"What if the way I see things is wrong?" She shot her head up, cutting me off. "They aren't wrong. I do need to spend more time with my team, that's how we get better. We have to trust each other. I shouldn't be spending time in another world that doesn't even matter!"

"You're right," I said softly, "It doesn't matter. Anything you do in that other world doesn't get you any further in this one," that sounded pretty dumb coming from someone that lived more in that world than this one, but I pressed on, "It's fake. Virtual. Nothing but ones and zeros. However, what's not fake is the people in it. The friends and memories you make are real."

"Nick..."

"You know," I didn't let her continue, "Even without Athalia. Where does that leave you? You still have the same problem. You have me and Tyler, and then you have your teammates."

"I don't know what to do..." her tears had dried up, I guess she wasn't wearing water proof mascara, cause that was a bit of a mess, but this was no time to point that out, "...How can I be friends with everyone?"

"Just do it," I shrugged my shoulders, "It's really that easy. If you want to be friends with someone, do it. If you don't like the way someone is treating you, say so. Don't sit there and take abuse because of something you like..."

"Are you referring to earlier?"

"...That was so painful to hear," I didn't even know how to explain it to her, but I was going to try my best, "That wasn't the Jen I knew. You conceded everything that you are to their opinions. You were giving away everything that makes you...you."

"Nick, I don't know who I am...so how can you possibly know who I am?" I could hear tension rising in her voice toward the end.

I'm not going to lie, her words hurt, but she was probably right. What if the Jen I knew was just a lie? An act that she put up just for me and Tyler? What if the Jen around her teammates was the real Jen? What if that was an act too? Maybe she's right, and she doesn't know who she is. Another possibility was this was yet another act, one to gain sympathy. Honestly, this is exhausting.

I ran my hands through my hair, frustrated with my own thoughts, unable to figure out what to say anymore. This was beyond something that I could help with. She has some serious reflecting to do before anyone could possibly help her. Anything I said now would just make the situation worse...but I couldn't just leave her like this.

"Who are you then?" the words slipped out of my mouth at nothing more than a whisper, then I decided not to hold back, "Are you the Jen that I know that's always happy? A free spirit that doesn't take crap from anyone. A girl that is as fierce as she is beautiful. Or are you the Jen that sits in the back of the crowd, that follows the leader without any opinions of your own, letting others dictate you life?" For some reason, I was starting to get angry again the more I pressed on, "Or is this the real you? A girl that sits, crying on the floor to gain sympathy from other people. Or maybe you just like playing the different roles!"

"Nick.."

"Am I right? Maybe just depending on the crowd you choose which Jen you want to be, so no one knows who you are!"

"Stop..."

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Stop it! I know, god damn it!" She stood up, clenching her fists beside her, "I know I'm a terrible fucking person. I don't need you to point it out to me!"

I turned around toward the door, I was sick of all of this, "If you have the nerve to call yourself a terrible person...then there is no reason for me to be here. There is nothing I can do to help you..."

I started walking toward the door, I could hear her breathing getting out of control as she started to panic with my actions.

"Nick...please..."

I didn't turn around, my hand was on the door handle, about to turn it, whenever I heard her say it.

"I love you..."

I froze in that very position. My hand still gripping the door handle, but unable to turn it. My mind went blank, unable to think of anything to do, unable to send any orders to any of my muscles. My heart beat was increasing, I could feel it about to burst out of my chest.

"Please...don't leave me..."

It was the cry of someone that was truly desperate. Someone that was truly broken. Her voice, once angelic and beautiful, was cracked and broken. I slowly was able to release my grip on the door handle, but I couldn't turn around. I couldn't face her, not after her saying that. What do I do in this situation?

"Why..." I let the words flow out of my mouth without even thinking beforehand, "...would you say that to me?"

She sucked in a quick, sharp breath. I guess that wasn't quite the response she was expecting. "It's the truth..." her voice still sounded fragile, "...I don't know who I am, or what I'm doing, or what I'm gong to do, but that's the one thing that I do know. I love you…every moment that goes by hurts because I know that I hurt you. I know that I _am_ hurting you."

"You should focus on figuring out yourself, before you start worrying about someone else," I didn't exactly mean it to sound like that, but it was out there now. What I wanted to tell her was that she should make herself happy and figure out who she truly was. Once that's done...we could start thinking about what comes next...but that one sentence was all that came out.

I willed myself to re-grip the door handle, swinging open the door. Just before I stepped out of the room, I turned my head toward her so she could clearly hear me, but I kept my eyes closed, as I didn't want to see her in the state she was in.

"Please don't do anything stupid..."

With that, I let the door close behind me. I left her in that room. Alone. I didn't know if that was the right thing to do, but I couldn't be in there with her anymore. If only there was someone I could trust to send in there so she wouldn't be alone...her roommate? No...they weren't that close. I certainly didn't want to send any of her teammates in there, as that could make the situation ten times worse.

I had made it almost halfway down the hallway whenever I stopped. If something happened to her...If she did something to herself while in that state, I would never forgive myself. It's none of my business though. She needs to figure herself out. Only she can do it. I gritted my teeth in frustration of my own indecisiveness. I know what the right thing to do is...just do it already.

I backtracked my steps until I was standing in front of Jen's door once again. I let out a deep breath as I turned the handle, pushing it open and letting myself inside. I found Jen curled up into a little ball on the floor in the living room, she hadn't moved an inch from where I left her. Her sobs filled the room, instantly shattering my heart as I heard them. I said nothing. I walked over and took a seat on the floor right next to her. I softly stroked her hair as she trembled, tears falling like water from a waterfall. After a few minutes she slowly moved her head onto my lap, burying her face into my pants. All I could do was sit there, and let her get it all out.

 _~End Flashback~_

* * *

"Nick?"

I sucked in a sharp breath as I snapped back to reality. Before me was the cute, freckled brunette that I was currently on a "double" date with. She tilted her head to the side, wondering what was going on inside of my head.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah...I'm good," I pulled my hand out of her grasps gently, then used both my hands to try and wipe away my thoughts from my face.

"You kinda spaced out on me for a little bit there, I was worried," she gave me a soft smile, a slight blush still present across her cheeks.

"I was just thinking..." I couldn't possibly tell her what I was thinking, and I couldn't just leave that open ended like that. Shit. What do I do now? If I leave it, then she's going to ask what I was thinking about and I'll be in even deeper shit. Think, man. Think. "...that it was kind of random how you, Mia, and Tyler showed up at my work the other day like you did. I mean, it's quite the drive from the school you and Mia go to."

Wow, way to pull that one out of your ass. In all seriousness, I was actually curious about that. The brunette beside me took in a nice, long, relaxed breath, then looked up toward the stars, a smile stricken across her face, "Well I think that's pretty obvious," she glanced over at me, then looked back up, "It was to see you."

"Just for me, huh?" I tried to cover up the astonished look on my face.

"Yeah," she chuckled at my response, then explained, "Mia was less than pleased whenever I told her my plan. I believe her exact words were 'that's what phones are for, dumby'," she gave out another chuckle as she imitated Mia's voice, "but just asking you over the phone didn't really seem right. Plus I didn't have your phone number. I mean, I could of easily gotten Mia to get it from Tyler, but that's beside the point. I guess, in all actuality, I just wanted to do it face to face with you...because that makes it special."

I opened my mouth, but stopped any words from being released as she smiled at me and continued, "So, we found a day that worked for both of us, and drove down here. Of course it was after the fact that we realized we didn't even check with Tyler about your work schedule...and sure enough, you were working..."

"You know," I couldn't help but let a small smile escape, despite all the thoughts swirling around in my head, "If you would've just waited another hour, I would've been off work."

"No way! Seriously?" She shot upright in disbelief as I confirmed, then gave me a love tap on the arm, "Why did you tell us while we were there?"

As we sat there and talked, I couldn't help but feel a sense of grief rise from within me. Was I leading this girl on? Was it fair for me to be doing this? Here was this girl, completely nuts about me, apparently, and she was giving it her all to get to know me better. And then there was...me. I wasn't trying at all. It was nice to get to know her, but I didn't _want_ to get to know her, like she did me. Was this really...okay?

Over the course of our conversation, even with my thoughts getting the better of me for most of it, I learned quite a bit about the girl. I learned how she was a graphic design major, but wanted to focus more on 3D animation rather than anything else. She didn't play any sports in high school, but she was part of the school newspaper and the Spanish club. She was going to the state university on an academic scholarship, which was pretty impressive, and she had met Mia on the day of the opening ceremony. She was currently in her second year, after the first semester her and Mia had become roommates.

"I feel like I've done nothing but talk about myself," she let out a giggle as she kicked her feet as they hovered just off the ground while she sat, "what about you?"

Wow, our conversation was really one sided, wasn't it? She had told me so much, and all of my input had just been questions to keep her talking more. I didn't even realize it. Now that it was my turn, I couldn't think of anything to say. How does one describe oneself? I guess I could get the easy stuff out of the way, right?

"Well, I'm in college, a second year, just like you. I'm majoring in web development, but I want to emphasize more on database design...ummm...I work part time, as you know," was my life really that shallow that it could be fit all in to one sentence? Was there anything in high school worth noting? No...I was a dumb ass in high school.

She seemed to sense that I was struggling, and offered a helping hand, "So what's this game I heard Tyler talking about before? Something you and him play together?"

"Oh...Athalia Online," I don't know why I felt so embarrassed.

"That's that big, virtual reality game, right?"

"Yeah, you know it?"

"Not exactly, but with it being as big and advanced as it is, how could an aspiring graphic designer / animator not take notice?" She let out a light laugh.

"True...the three-dimensional rendering is pretty fantastic..."

Why was I so hesitant to talk about the game with her? She had brought it up, and since she heard it from Tyler, she obviously knew it was one of my main interests, so why was I struggling? Why was this so hard? I felt an uneasy, heaviness taking over my chest. Why is life in this world so hard?

"Is something troubling you?" her sweet, innocent voice almost broke my heart, "I'd be more than happy to listen..."

Her voice was sincere. Just by the tone of it I felt her meaning behind it. She wanted to genuinely help me. I let the silence of night take a hold of our conversation for quite some time. I was pondering whether or not it would be a good idea to just let it all out. Just to talk. Talk straight from my heart. No filter. Something I can't ever remember doing. Throughout my entire life I had tried my best to hide my feelings, conceal what was really going on. Little by little, Tyler and Jen broke down the wall that I had built up...but now, it was back to being as tall as ever. I needed to get everything off my chest...I needed to.

I sucked in a deep breath, relaxing myself as best I could. I closed my eyes, trying to clear my mind of any obstacles that might get in my way of speaking. Without thinking about anything, I finally let it all out…

"I'm in love with a girl that doesn't even know how incredible she is. I have the best friend I could possibly ask for, but I'm trying my damnedest to push him away. I'm tired of my life here, and I'm scared of what the future holds for me...I'm more alive in a virtual world, than I could ever possibly be here. The strength I have there...I wish...I wish I could just have an ounce of that here..." I didn't realize it until after I finished, but tears had slowly starting dripping down the side of my face.

What did I just say?

I couldn't believe I just said all of that...out loud...to another person. I couldn't hide the embarrassment. What was she thinking right now? She had to think I was crazy. She had to. No way a sane person says something like that. Despite wanting to know her reaction, I couldn't bring myself to look at her.

"I get it..."

What? I immediately turned my face to look at the girl next to me who, if I'm not mistaken, just said she understood what I meant. Does that mean she's just as crazy as me? Impossible. I wanted to ask her how she was so calm, but nothing came out of my mouth. I just stared at her, if I would've thought about it, it probably made her quite uncomfortable.

"Well, I get most of it anyway," she looked like she was trying to coach herself up, "I completely knew that you were in love with that girl, even if you didn't," she tried her best to give me a half smirk, but I could tell it hurt her to say that, "but I, rather selfishly, still wanted to give it a shot anyway. I understand where you are coming from when you say you try to push people away, I did too at one point. Honest. Hell, I still do," she gave out a half chuckle as she wiped her eyes, the beginning of tears were forming, "but that's why I have Mia. She helped me, and still helps me, through a lot, just like Tyler helps, and is helping, you."

"I..." nothing more would escape my lips, she paused momentarily to look at me, her eyes glassy from the formation of tears.

When I didn't say anything further, she pressed on, "Everyone is scared of what the future holds, you know? Will we graduate? Will we find jobs once we graduate? Will we be able to support ourselves? Will we find love? Will we get married? It's all...unknown."

"Yeah..." that was the only thing I could contribute, I didn't know what else to say.

"I can't say from experience I know what you are talking about when you say you are more alive in that game...but..." my eyes perked up at her, "...I do understand. There was a time when I would lose myself in the pages of countless novels. I lived within the fictional fantasies that they created. Whenever I finished a book...I would feel empty...sad that I had to be back in reality. I don't know if that helps you...but I just want you to know..." she slowly moved her hand onto mine where it was resting on my leg, as she looked into my eyes, "...you aren't alone."

I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I know how cliché that sounds, but it's the only way I could describe it. It was...amazing. Knowing that I wasn't the only person to feel the way I feel. Knowing that I wasn't alone. I was surrounded by people who cared about me, even if I was too stupid to know it. Hearing someone actually say it. It was a great feeling.

"Thank you..." the words escaped my lips softly. Her hand was still holding onto mine, and I didn't mind it one bit. She gave me a smile, though I could see some pain hiding behind it. I mean, I did just flat out tell her I was in love with someone else. She probably felt just like that one poor girl did in that show when she pours her heart out to the main character, and his response was that he loved someone else. I needed to say something to her...to apologize. I needed to let her know that I was thankful for everything she had just done for me…

"Rach-"

"HAUL ASS GUYS!" Tyler's booming voice came out of nowhere, my eyes shot around to see two dark figures making their way toward us. Why were they running?

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, RUN!" That was Mia, whose voice sounded like a perfect mix of fright and excitement.

Our non-verbal questions were soon answered as a light became visible in the distance, followed by a, "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"Shit..." I cursed under my breath as Rachel and I shot up off the bench, just about the time Tyler and Mia were zooming passed us.

* * *

"Man...that was a close call if there ever was one..." Tyler walked out onto his small balcony where I was staring off into the night sky.

We escaped. Somehow. As we crammed ourselves into the car and Tyler furiously turned over the engine and threw it into reverse, I swore we were going to get caught. Even after we made our getaway, I fully expected to see flashing red and blue lights come from behind us at some point, but they never did. Tyler handed me a cold soda as he leaned his back up against the railing, resting both of his elbows on it as well. I turned and followed his gaze through the sliding door, into the apartment, and to the couch where two girls laid, fast asleep, cuddled up against each other.

My eyes traced the sight all the way back to Tyler, who had a heart warming smile spread across his face. I think I had it all figured out now. How close Tyler and Mia were, the fact that they were comfortable with each other, and that smile of pure happiness plastered all over his face. They must have been seeing each other, but not told anyone. Of course, that was just a suspicion, but I was fairly sure I was correct.

"So how long has that been going on?" I said snidely as I nudged my head back and forth between him and the direction of Mia.

He looked down, giving out a soft chuckle, "Before we left the party…you remember how Mia came running up to the car, just before we left?"

I tried to think back, the end of that night was all a giant blur. Although, I do remember someone coming up to the car as we were about to leave, I guess that was Mia then. I didn't read too much into it at the time, I was numb with pain. Well, emotionally numb, physically I hurt like all hell.

"Yeah...I guess so," I gave him a reassuring nod to go along with my answer.

"Well, she gave me her number then and there. Told me to let her know that we made it back safely...after that...it just sort of took off, you know?" He gave out a chuckle, "It's only been a short time with her, but we just get along well. We can talk to each other. Like, really talk."

"I'm happy for you, man," I smiled at him and held out my soda can for a toast, to which we clinked them together and took a drink.

"I was going to tell you...I just..." He drifted off, unable to find the right words.

"Don't sweat it," I looked into the apartment at the sleeping beauties, in particular the girl that I had one of the most important talks of my life to just a couple hours earlier. She was past out. I mean, gone. She was lying on her side, Mia cuddled up to her back. I swear I could see a little bit of drool beginning to make an appearance from the corner of her mouth. Cute. A little gross, but, cute.

"So how did it go between you two?"

"Well," I didn't hold back all day, so couldn't really start now, especially with Tyler, "I confessed that I was in love with Jen, told her about my issues with pushing people away, and also told her about my unhealthy obsession with AO."

"You sure do know how to whoo a girl, don't ya?" I couldn't help but bust out laughing along with him. It felt good to laugh. In fact, it just flat out felt good to have all of this out in the open. Finally.

"You aren't getting off the hook that easily though, dude," he pointed at me, shifting over to leaning on the railing with his right side so that he would be facing me, "here I've been patiently waiting all of this time for you to talk to me about this shit, and you confessed it to a girl you barely know? What the hell man?"

It was nice to hear the playfulness in his voice again, "I know...I know...It just sort of happened though. There were so many times when I wanted to tell you, but I just couldn't get myself to."

"I'll just have to beat it out of you from now on..." he mumbled right before taking a sip of his drink.

"So about Jen..." just saying her name, I felt a lump get stuck in my throat. Tyler perked an eyebrow and waited patiently for me to continue, "something happened between her and I the other day..."

I proceeded to give him the run down of what happened with Jen and I's...encounter. I told him everything from the start when I was sitting in the café, to the point where I went back into the room to a crying, sobbing Jen. I explained the way I felt about things, the way I said them. I explained things I wanted to say, but couldn't. Hell, I even went on a minor angry rant, that's just how frustrated the girl has me at this point.

"Yeah, your lame ass 'I didn't feel good' excuse for skipping class makes sense now," was his first response after I ended my story, "So? What happened after that?"

"Nothing really..." I took in a deep breath, "...we had to of stayed in that position for hours. I don't know exactly how many. We didn't say much of anything at all, really. All of a sudden she just sat up, told me that she was tired, and was going to go to sleep, and I took that as my cue to leave."

"Well that's not very interesting..." he said, displeased with the lack of an exciting outcome.

"She did say something just before I left though..."

"I don't deserve you..." Her voice rang through my head as I told him.

"Well that's for damn sure," he gave out a huff, "honestly, she frustrates me to all hell man."

"You and me both..." I softly mumbled as I stared down at the soda can.

He gave out a long, deep sigh, then proceeded, "So what's the next move?"

"I don't know..." I looked up at him, I could see his concern for me in his eyes, "...I think she needs some space. After what happened...I think she has a lot to think about. At least...I hope she does..."

"I feel ya," he rubbed his chin, then motioned his head toward the sleeping girls, "and, uh, what about that?"

"Obviously, I'm going for gold."

We both gave out a hearty laugh at my comment. I had to. The conversation was way too serious not to crack a joke to lighten it up a little bit.

"That's one way to go," he said between chuckles.

"For real," I stared over at the couch once again, "I can't...It's not fair to her."

"Spoken like a true man," he reached his soda over to me for another clink of our cans, "course, the way she looks at you, I doubt she'll give up very easily, but hell, maybe that's a good thing."

"I know what you mean," I smiled, "I don't know too many girls that could take a person they like confessing their love for someone else right in front of them and still stick around."

"True, true, brotha."

We stayed out there for a while, enjoying the cool air of the crisp night. We rattled on and on about this and that, at times laughing uncontrollably. It was good to talk to him like this again, I can't even begin to think about how long it has been. When all is said and done, I'm glad I have him. He's my best friend. He's more than anything I could ask for.

After giving out a hefty yawn, a shock suddenly struck across his face, "Damn, I completely forgot about tomorrow."

I gave him a chuckle, "Really? You forgot? You've only been freaking out about it since it was announced."

"Yeah, yeah, shutty. So what time is registration tomorrow? And it's in Kharidia, right?"

"Cut off is at 10, and yeah. I'm going to be there probably around 8, get the registration out of the way and get mentally prepared," I smirked at the last couple of words that came out of my mouth.

It seemed silly to have to mentally prepare yourself to play a game, but this was a big deal. I wanted to do well in this tournament, and the only way I was going to do that was by giving it my all. And having a weak bracket didn't hurt. He nodded along as I spoke, but he seemed to be getting increasingly anxious about the whole thing. His eyes were fluttering around as if he had a lot going through his mind, it was quite an odd look for him.

"You okay there?"

"Yeah..." he seemed deep in thought, "Can you walk me through the whole registration thingy?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Well," I tried to recollect my past experience, which Tyler didn't know about, along with what I've read on countless forums, "The registration is the easy part. There are these little booths that are off to the sides of the main gate of the coliseum. Think of them as little voter's booths. There is an NPC in each one that gives you the run down of the rules, then you have to agree to terms and such, and then confirm your registration. You have to grant them access to your character, too. You know, equipment, skills, and such."

"Why do they need to know that?" he questioned.

"The announcers, if you are lucky enough to get far enough to have announcers, will talk about your character build and stuff. It's just an agreement saying they can look into that, nothing fancy," I reassured him.

Then my own thought came to me...What if I get to an announced match, and they reveal my talent? I had decided I wasn't going to use it until absolutely necessary. I didn't want to be that guy that had a unique talent, but got knocked out immediately. Plus, revealing that talent puts a huge target on my back. Who wouldn't want to be the one in the tournament that knocked out the ice elementalist? Hopefully, given the situation, the announcers would cooperate with my wishes. Maybe, just in case, I'll send a note along with my profile.

The NPCs that ran the booths were pretty damn awesome, in fact, some even speculated that they weren't even NPCs at all, and that they were actual employees from the creator of the game. Anyway, you could ask them to pass along notes or comments along with your registration profile. Usually people did this if they wanted the announcer to make note of certain skills of theirs, or perhaps they had a nickname they went by, or something. Tomorrow, I think I'll be sure to pass along a note begging them to not out my talent, if I hadn't already revealed it. The announcers themselves ranged from gaming website representatives to actual eSport channel personnel, so I'm sure they would take my actions of trying to hide my talent as a clear sign to not talk about it, but still, you never know.

"Alright, that makes me feel a little better. Now that's it's on my mind, it's making me nervous."

"I know how you feel," I gave him a smirk, "just relax, and do your best, that's all you can do, you know?"

"You are surprisingly calm about this whole thing," he gave me a peculiar, studying gaze, "aren't you concerned about revealing your little party trick?"

I couldn't help but laugh, all my hard work and effort just got referred to as a party trick, "Not as much as I thought I would be. I've decided to keep it hidden as long as I can, just cause I don't want it to be the main focal point of my fighting, you know, but if I get in a tough bracket, I might have to use it right out of the gate. You just never know."

"Makes sense," he sat up from his leaning position against the rail, standing directly before me, "Just so you know, I'm giving it my all in this thing, so you better too. If we end up fighting, I'm going for the win," he shot me a smirk at the end.

I straightened myself up, holding out my hand, to which he firmly grasped, "Deal, though don't be too mad when I kick your ass."

"That's what I'm talking about!" He gave me a smack on the shoulder, "That's the fiery confidence that I wanna see tomorrow!"

* * *

A/N: There we go, part two: done! I hope you all are enjoying the series thus far, I know I am. I want to take a moment to thank the people that have been kind enough to leave reviews, favorites, and follows. It means a lot. Even if you don't do any of those things, just knowing that there are people out there reading and enjoying my story makes me feel amazing. I've been trying my best to improve my writing ability, the most notable problem I have is staying within the same tense, which most of the time is past. Though, since realizing it, I feel I've gotten a lot better at catching myself. So, once again, thank you for reading, I hope you are enjoying the story. Next, we embark on a journey that is the Battle of Blades. See you then!


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